Atletico Madrid expect Arsenal to make a move for Julian Alvarez.
Standard Sport understands that forward is a long-time target of Mikel Arteta’s, who weighed up bidding for the World Cup winner last summer before settling on Viktor Gyokeres.
A year on and the Gunners could reignite their interest in Alvarez, who is expected to leave the Spanish capital this summer, two years after joining from Manchester City in a deal worth around £81million.
It was Arsenal sporting director, Andrea Berta, who negotiated that move a year before leaving Atleti for north London.
Barcelona remain keen admirers of Alvarez, and appear to be Arsenal’s biggest rivals for the player’s signature.
However, Atletico are reportedly refusing to do business with Barca after growing frustrated with media coverage around their player’s future.
Spanish out RAC1 reported on Tuesday that Barca’s first bid, worth €100 million (£86.4m) was rejected by Atletico, who will continue to block the player’s move to Camp Nou.
That leaves Arsenal in pole position.
The same report claims that the Gunners have been in contact with Alvarez’s agent and Atletico are now waiting on official talks to begin.
Atletico have set their asking price at €150m (£129.6m), which would be break the record spent by a British club - surpassing the £120m Liverpool paid for Alexander Isak last summer.
A supposed source at Atletico was quoted by Libertad Digital said of Alvarez’s admirers: “Two weeks ago it was PSG, last week Barcelona, now Arsenal. We count on Julian for next season.”
Atletico have already starting making a move to sign Alvarez’s replacement, with AS report that an enquiry about Victor Osimhen has been made.
Osimhen joined rom Galatasaray last summer in a deal worth £63m, following a successful loan spell.
