According to reports from London Evening Standard, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have all been offered the chance to sign Brazilian striker Alexandre Pato in an £11million deal.
The 26-year-old is perhaps best known for his prior spell at AC Milan, where he scored 51 goals in 117 Serie A appearances after bursting onto the scene as a free-scoring teenager in 2007. But injuries severely impacted Pato’s final 18 months at the San Siro, paving the way for a return to Brazilian domestic football in January 2013.
The move has certainly gone some way to reviving the 5 foot 11 striker’s stuttering career. He scored 17 times in 57 appearances during his only campaign with parent club Corinthians and has bagged 38 in 95 during a two-year loan at Sao Paolo – including 26 goals this season.
The South American is keen to return to European football, telling Radio Globo earlier this month; “Next year I won’t be playing at Sao Paulo, everybody knows that. I hope England or Spain. I do not know if I can stay with Corinthians. I just try to do as well as possible.”
That has seen him linked with West Ham and Manchester United, alongside a spate of clubs from La Liga. But London Evening Standard claim Pato’s representatives have offered his services to three rival Premier League clubs ahead of the January transfer window – Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur – at the reported cost of £11million.
All three clubs could certainly do with a midseason injection of added firepower. A recent injury to Theo Walcott has highlighted Arsenal’s limited depth up top, Divock Origi has been the only fully fit striker at Jurgen Klopp’s disposal since taking the Anfield helm last month and Tottenham’s goal-scoring hopes rest almost exclusively on star frontman Harry Kane.