Arsenal are reportedly chasing 22-year-old defensive midfielder William Carvalho.
The London club have already made a bid of around £19 million, though this has been rejected, according to The Metro.
Carvalho is one of Portugal’s hottest prospects and the Gunners have reportedly seen a bid of around £19m turned down by Sporting Lisbon.
With Sporting Lisbon set to hold out for a fee in the region of £35 million Arsenal will have to dig deep if they want to land their player.
A move for Carvalho is something of a surprise considering the intense speculation surrounding the possible transfer of German Sami Khedira to The Emirates from Real Madrid. This could signal that Arsenal are no longer chasing the World Cup winner focusing their efforts elsewhere. But there is a chance that both are wanted.
Reports earlier in the week suggested that Khedira may choose to stay at Real Madrid and sign a new contract with the Spanish giants.
Carvalho is one of Europe’s most promising youngsters. He has been at Sporting Lisbon his whole career, joining the youth setup in 2005. Since then he has spent spells on loan at both Fatima and Cercle Brugge, though has become a more established regular at the Portuguese side this season.
Manchester United have been strongly linked to the player for a long period but his high fee has proven prohibitive to a transfer so far.
But Carvalho plays with real swagger and authority for one so young and looks tailer made for The Premier League.
With successful bids made for Sanchez and Debuchy this summer Arsenal fans will hope that the fun continues.
Let’s have a look at the lad in action. Arsenal fans: a better long term option than Khedira?
