After continuing to impress this summer at the World Cup, Arsenal, Chelsea and Juventus have all reportedly been paired with an interest in Aleksandr Golovin.
The 22-year-old has already made a positive impression with his form for CSKA Moscow, scoring seven goals and providing six assists in 43 appearances last season.
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Given a prominent creative role by hosts Russia at the World Cup though, he stood out as one of their top players during their run to the quarter-finals, and in turn it’s no surprise that he is attracting interest from around Europe.
According to The Sun though, both Arsenal and Chelsea may well have been handed a transfer boost in their £26m pursuit, as Juventus are tipped to struggle to afford his price-tag given that they splashed out on Cristiano Ronaldo earlier this week.
In turn, it does raise question marks over how much the Italian giants would have budgeted for this summer, as they confirmed in an official statement that they’ve spent in excess of €100m for Ronaldo, while BBC Sport note how they spent a further £35.5m on his compatriot Joao Cancelo.
Having splashed out on that duo, it remains to be seen if they are forced to step out of the race to sign Golovin, which in turn potentially gives both Arsenal and Chelsea a better chance of landing their reported target.
The Gunners are perhaps less in need of another creative playmaker though given the presence of Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in Unai Emery’s squad.
In contrast, Chelsea’s creativity predominantly comes from out wide through the likes of Eden Hazard, Willian and Pedro. Adding Golovin could give the Blues a different dynamic in the final third through the middle and so it remains to be seen if they press ahead with their pursuit.