Arsenal plot £100m transfer spree on Thomas Partey, Gabriel Magalhaes and Dani Ceballos
AMBITIOUS Arsenal are set to spend £100million this summer to sign key targets Thomas Partey, Gabriel Magalhaes and Dani Ceballos.
But they will need to sell at least three of their current squad and offload a couple more to fund the spending spree.
That means Lucas Torreira, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Matteo Guendouzi and Shkodran Mustafi could all be joining Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mohamed Elneny at the departure gate.
With the free-transfer signing of Chelsea winger Willian almost in the bag, Mikel Arteta is now turning his attention to strengthening his midfield and defence.
Atletico Madrid’s Ghana star Partey has been top of Arsenal’s shopping list for months and is keen to move to the Premier League after nine years in the Spanish capital.
The central midfielder, 27, has a £45m release clause in his contract and Atletico are adamant that Arsenal will have to pay the full asking price to get their man.
Arteta is also keen on Lille’s Brazilian centre-half Gabriel, who was targeted by former boss Unai Emery last season before the club signed William Saliba.
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Everton and Napoli have already made bids for the 22-year-old defender but it is understood that £25m-rated Gabriel is keen to follow his former Lille team-mate Nicolas Pepe to the Emirates, where he would be playing with fellow Brazilians Willian, David Luiz and Gabriel Martinelli.
Arsenal are also trying to come to an agreement with Real Madrid over Ceballos, whose loan spell at the Emirates has now expired.
The club would prefer to retain Ceballos on loan for another season with the option of a permanent deal next summer.
But Real want to sell the Spain midfielder this summer and are looking for around £30m.
SELL BEFORE YOU BUY
Arteta was initially unconvinced about keeping Ceballos but has been won over by the player’s commitment and performances since football restarted in June.
But money remains tight at the Emirates, where the club has just announced 55 redundancies among their scouting and backroom staff.
Even qualifying for the Europa League has not generated the cash Arteta needs to complete his ambitious rebuilding programme and he has been told he needs to sell before he can make all the additions he wants.
French international Guendouzi is rated at around £35m by Arsenal and Maitland-Niles has been told he can leave for £25m, with Everton, Spurs and Brighton all keen.
Uruguay ace Torreira could also be sacrificed after struggling to settle in England and is thought to be keen on a return to Italy.
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But Arsenal want to recoup the £26m they paid to sign him from Sampdoria, with both AC Milan and Fiorentina interested in signing the little midfielder.
The club are also ready to cancel Mkhitaryan’s £180,000-a-week contract to allow him to join Roma on a free and will sell Elneny for a nominal fee after he spent last season on loan at Besiktas.
Mustafi and Sokratis, who both have just one year left on their contracts, are also up for grabs and Rob Holding could be sold if Arsenal succeed in landing Gabriel.