Arsenal to snub Marouane Fellaini despite being offered Manchester United contract rebel for free
Belgian available to leave Old Trafford for nothing this summer and has been touted to new Gunners boss Unai Emery
ARSENAL have been offered Maraoune Fellaini on a free transfer but are unlikely to sign the Manchester United midfielder.
Belgian international Fellaini, 30, is out of contract after five years at Old Trafford and free to negotiate with interested clubs.
A proposed move to AC Milan has fallen through due to the player’s financial demands and now his representatives are looking closer to home for his next team.
New Arsenal boss Unai Emery once tried to sign Fellaini for Paris St.Germain and is currently in the market for a tall central midfield player.
But the former Everton favourite is not regarded as an Arsenal player by many influential figures at the club and his salary expectations of £120,000-a-week plus a signing-on fee are seen as way too high.
The player is currently away with Belgium’s World Cup squad and will not make any decisions over his future until he returns from Russia next month.
There is still the offer of a new 12-month contract from Manchester United, who cost £27.5million when he became David Moyes’ first Old Trafford signing in 2013.
Emery’s immediate priority is securing the long-term future of Aaron Ramsey and talks are planned with the Welsh midfielder over a new five-year contract.
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The Spaniard must also decide whether to keep striker Lucas Perez, who has returned to the Emirates after a year on loan at former club Deportivo La Coruna.
Perez, 29, cost £17million when he signed from Deportivo in 2016 but started just two Premier League games before being sent back to La Liga.
And he does not want to stay at the Emirates if he is not going to be a first team regular.
His agent Rodrigo Fernandez Lovelle confirmed: “Lucas has a two-year contract with Arsenal and we need to know their plans for him.
“The club has never put him on the market. It was his decision to move last summer because he was unhappy to be on the bench and not called into the action.
“There was interest from Lazio last year and Lucas likes the idea of playing for them, but it is too early to talk about that.”