Arsenal have made their interest clear for Italian midfielder Manuel Locatelli. The Gunners had a very disappointing last campaign and they are looking to make amends to their current squad for the upcoming season.
However, securing Locatelli from Sassuolo won’t be easy for the Gunners as Juventus are also interested in the midfielder. Locatelli has been sensational for Sassuolo for the last couple of seasons. But it was only after his performances in the Euros, teams are eager to secure his signature.
While Sassuolo are ready to listen to the offers for the former AC Milan man, they are in no hurry to sell the midfielder. They are waiting for the right bid to sell him for a hefty transfer fee. Sassuolo CEO Giovanni Carnevali told Sky Italia that the Gunners have made their official first bid for Locatelli. “Arsenal have made an official bid for Locatelli,” Carnevali said. “They’re pushing hard to sign Manuel and it’s an important bid. We will see.
“Also Juventus want Locatelli and we have a special relationship with them. We have a new meeting scheduled with Juve.”
However, he has not spoken to the player as he wants him to concentrate at the Euros with his national team. Therefore he added, “We are trying to leave the lad calm, so I haven’t spoken to him or his agents yet. We can think about Locatelli’s future, but above all, we care about his present and that means Italy doing well at the Euros.”
Although Carnevali has admitted about an official bid from Arsenal, a lot of outlets report that the Gunners have not made any such move. They are indeed interested in the midfielder and knows that Juventus are ahead of them in the race. A lot of reports believe that Sassuolo are using Arsenal’s name to take the price even a notch higher. It is a strategy used by Sassuolo to force Juve to meet their demands of £34 million which is the fee they are asking for Locatelli.
Arsenal recently completed the signing of Nuno Tavares from Benfica. The young Portuguese is an attacking left back who will be a backup for Kieran Tierney. Also, Arsenal are very close to completing the deal with Anderlecht over Albert Sambi Lokonga. However the Belgian is only 21 years old and the team management wants him to gradually grow in the Premier League.
With Granit Xhaka closing in on a move to AS Roma this summer, Arsenal need someone like Locatelli to partner with Thomas Partey in the middle of the park. Hence they are in search of a proven centre midfielder and Locatelli was among their top targets for that spot.
