Arsenal are working on signing two players on loan by the Thursday night transfer cut-off, according to Guillem Balague.
Writing on his personal Twitter account on Tuesday morning, the transfer expert and well-connected journalist reported the Gunners are “still aiming” for two temporary deals.
But Balague explained they have hit a stumbling block in their pursuits of Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic and Barcelona’s Denis Suarez, as neither of the European clubs are budging on their stance of permanent deals only.
Balague added that there is no possibility of Mesut Ozil leaving Arsenal in a swap deal before the deadline.
#ARS still aiming for 2 loans. They finding with Perisic same difficulty as with Denis Suarez. Only want loan, no obligation to buy. Inter and FCB not accepting it
Swap for Ozil not in the cards#GBTransfershow being prepared. Set up notifications
? https://t.co/v3uk7gIWQF— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) January 29, 2019
OPINION
Arsenal fans won’t be getting too carried away by Balague’s update. Indeed, they will probably be very frustrated by the post from the Spaniard. What will be especially disappointing is that the Gunners are only willing to sanction short-term deals until the end of the season and are not even going to authorise loan-to-buy transfers in which they became permanent in the summer. That is telling. Has the money totally run out at Arsenal? Or, is Unai Emery, or the board, or both, not sold on the capabilities of Perisic and Suarez? If you were either the Inter Milan winger, or the Barcelona playmaker, you might be feeling a little miffed that Arsenal did not think you worthy of at least an obligation to buy in the summer. Balague’s latest dispatch suggests Emery is facing deadline-day disappointment, bar a change of heart from Inter and Barcelona, two elite clubs not noted for backing down when it comes to big-name player transfers.