Emirates Stadium meet price-tags of high-profile pair.
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Arsenal have reportedly seen bids for two big name signings accepted as Arsene Wenger sets about spending the £70m transfer war-chest he has been handed this summer.
CaughtOffside understands that the North London club have registered a bid that triggers the release clause of Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini, which leaves the way clear for Arsenal to hold talks with the 25 year old Belgian international.
Wenger has been told he can raise the club’s ‘wage ceiling’ in order to make an attractive offer to the Toffees star with an offer of a £120k a week deal said to be on the table.
Arsenal are thought to have triggered Fellaini’s clause with a bid in the region of £22m and will now wait to see if any other interested parties follow suit, with both Chelsea and Man United having previously shown an interest in the former Standard Liege midfielder.
Wenger was willing to meet Fellaini’s clause chiefly due to being safe in the knowledge that the powerful midfielder is a proven Premier League performer and a player who’s representatives have given the Arsenal boss the encouragement needed that the Everton man is indeed keen on a move to the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal are also understood to have placed a £24m bid for Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain, meeting the Bernabeu side’s valuation on the Argentine forward.
The La Liga giants are keen to offload a number of players this summer as re-elected president Florentino Perez seeks to beef up funds available to incoming boss Carlo Ancelotti, who is thought to be likely to succeed Jose Mourinho as Real Madrid boss.
Though the Spanish side are said to be holding off accepting bids for any of their players until the Italian has officially taken over it is believed that the PSG manager has sanctioned the sale of Higuain, who he doesn’t see as part of his first team plans.
In a similar scenario to Arsenal’s chase for Fellaini the Premier League side must now wait to see if other bids are forthcoming for the 26 year old former River Plate forward, with Juventus thought to be Arsenal’s main competitors in the race to sign Higuain.
Arsene Wenger sees Higuain as the answer to his search for a fresh prolific marksman to strengthen an attack that could well do with a more lethal finisher.
Though Higuain has been something of a bit-part player during Mourinho’s three years in charge of Real Madrid the French born forward has still managed to score regularly, netting 122 goals in seven seasons at the club.
Moves to capture either, or indeed both, these international talents will certainly please an Arsenal fanbase who have previously called into question their club’s willingness to spend large sums in order to significantly improve a squad that last season once again failed to mount a genuine Premier League title challenge and made little in the way of in-roads with respect to their Champions League form.
In order to help balance the books, something Wenger will attempt to do despite a high level of transfer funding, Arsenal will offload a number of squad players.
Sebastien Squillaci, Denilson and Andrei Arshavin have already left Arsenal and the likes of Nicklas Bendtner, Marouane Chamakh, Andre Santos, Vito Mannone, Park Chu-Young, Johan Djourou and Emmanuel Frimpong are set to do likewise.