Arsenal have identified an alternative if they fail in their bid to sign Wilfried Zaha this summer, according to the Evening Standard.
29-year-old winger Yacine Brahimi is the potential new target and he’s currently without a club after his contract expired with Porto at the end of last month.
Zaha is said to want a move to Arsenal but Palace want £80million and aren’t prepared to budge. They rejected Arsenal’s first offer of £40million out of hand on Monday.
Arsenal are now looking to either negotiate a deal including player(s) as part exchange or selling to raise the money for Zaha.
However, a move for Brahimi is now an option if they still fail to sign the Palace attacker.
VERDICT
Arsenal fans will be wondering what’s happened to their club. Manager Unai Emery has a relatively small budget of £40million to spend this summer and it hasn’t taken the club too long to find out that’s not going to go very far. With Tottenham announcing a club-record deal for Tanguy Ndombele – for a fee of £53.8million that could rise to £62.8million – the power shift between the two north London clubs could be said to be complete. Brahimi is an option – he’s available on a free transfer – but Zaha is said to be the priority. And if Arsenal delay over negotiations for Zaha they could lose Brahimi, with two English clubs said to be after him. The problem for Arsenal is that the gulf is so big between them and Palace – double the initial bid rejected – it’s hard to see how it can be surmounted. And deals involving other players are notoriously complicated and certainly not quick and easy to sort out. Palace have sold Aaron Wan-Biassaka to Man United this summer so they have no imperative to sell Zaha, certainly not in a hurry and at a knockdown price. It sounds like they would sell, albeit reluctantly if the price was right. That’s of no help right now though to either Arsenal or Emery.