LONDON — Gonzalo Higuain has reached an agreement in principle with Arsenal over personal terms on a four-year contract, as his move from Real Madrid edges closer.
The Argentina striker is the marquee addition that Arsene Wenger wants this summer and the manager is ready to break the Arsenal transfer record to sign him.
The club’s billionaire shareholder, Alisher Usmanov, has also urged Wenger to keep splashing the cash with a move for Wayne Rooney.
There is a confidence at the club that Higuain is poised to join, ideally before Arsenal depart on July 11 for their commercial tour of Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan, and it appears that the final obstacle is the sign-off from Real’s new manager.
The Spanish club, who parted company with Jose Mourinho at the end of last season, have lined up a deal for Paris Saint-Germain’s Carlo Ancelotti and he is keen to be installed at the Bernabeu as soon as possible.
He could then be expected to sanction Higuain’s release. The player has come to feel surplus at Madrid and the club have already circulated his name to potential buyers.
But PSG’s search for a new manager, which has taken several twists, has not yet been resolved and the situation has had an effect on Ancelotti’s proposed move to Madrid.
The discussions between Arsenal and Higuain’s representatives have progressed in recent weeks and the player has indicated that he is happy with the contract on offer, which is worth around £130,000 (S$256,730) a week.
The 25-year-old stands to become Arsenal’s first £20 million-plus player. The club’s current record signing is Andrey Arshavin at £15 million.
The pending signing of Higuain — who has scored 117 goals for Real since his arrival from River Plate in 2006 — makes a move for Rooney less likely, but Usmanov said: “He is a great player and joining Arsenal would be great for Rooney and Arsenal, too.”
If Rooney does leave Manchester United this summer, Chelsea remain the favourites to sign him.
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, "script", "facebook-jssdk"));
No comments:
Post a Comment