Arsenal have reportedly been dealt a blow as Atletico Madrid have also set their sights on AC Milan star Suso and are willing to pay his €40m release clause.
The Gunners are coming off the back of a bitterly disappointing campaign in which they failed to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League before suffering heartbreak in the Europa League final in Baku with defeat to rivals Chelsea.
SEE MORE: Arsenal tipped to launch fresh bid for forward who favours Gunners transfer
In turn, they’ll be absent from the Champions League for a third consecutive season, and naturally that will have a negative impact for them on and off the pitch.
As for Unai Emery, it will be a setback for the Spanish tactician in his first season in charge to fail to meet those objectives, but he’ll hope he can continue to stamp his mark on the squad this summer and enjoy a more fruitful second year at the helm.
According to The Sun, via the paper edition of Corriere dello Sport, Arsenal have been keeping tabs on Suso this past season, with the 25-year-old bagging eight goals and nine assists in 41 appearances for Milan.
However, their hopes of potentially landing his signature have taken a blow as it’s added that Atleti are now preparing a move of their own as Diego Simeone looks to strengthen his squad this summer too.
Time will tell if Arsenal can remain at the front of the queue in the event that the Spanish playmaker leaves San Siro, but Calciomercato add that Atletico are ready to meet his €40m release clause, and so it remains to be seen if the Gunners can match that offer and compete for his signature.
It’s questionable if the move even makes sense from an Arsenal perspective though, as with Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan already in the squad, it could be argued that Suso is too similar to the pair, although he has played as a winger at Milan and so could offer much-needed width to the Arsenal attack if he were to move to north London.
