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Arsenal lining-up £42.6m + player deal for record-breaking striker

By on July 12, 2016

According to Italian outlet Calciomercato, Arsenal are ready to test Napoli’s resolve with a £42.6m plus Olivier Giroud offer in exchange for Gonzalo Higuain.

Arsene Wenger is desperately trying to land another striker after missing out on Jamie Vardy and Higuain is one in a long list of players who’ve been linked in recent weeks.

The former Real Madrid striker has just come off the back of a sensational season that saw him score 36 goals in 35 games, which is a new Serie A record, to help Napoli finish second in the table behind Juventus.

However, Calciomercato are reporting today that we’re now ready to step-up our interest in the Argentinean international by offering Napoli £42.6m in cash PLUS Giroud in exchange for Higuain’s signature.

The Italian outlet says that West Ham are also interested and are willing to pay just under £60m in cash to sign the 28-year-old, but I highly doubt the striker would agree to join the Hammers this summer.

It’s difficult to know what to make of this latest report but I’d be shocked if Wenger was willing to use Giroud as a make-weight in any deal as surely the idea is we need to ADD another striker to the squad?

With Welbeck out injured for most of next season, Giroud is the only ‘proper’ striker available so we need someone to compete with and support the Frenchman, not take his place in the squad.

Anyway, player-plus-cash swap deals very rarely happen between big clubs so even if we were set to put this deal on the table, it will never go through, and the proposed deal is also unlikely as it would value Higuain at around £70m.

Even with all his faults, Giroud is still a very solid striker who has to be worth at least £25m in today’s market. If Benteke is worth £30m then Giroud is certainly worth around that figure, too.

So combined with the supposed £42m in cash, according to Calciomercato, Wenger is prepared to splash out around £70m on Higuain? Nope, can’t see it. Not for a player who’ll turn 29 at the end of the year.

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Higuain has already confirmed he won’t be signing a new contract at Napoli so with two years left on his deal, his value is going to drop considerably over the next 12 months. Therefore, a deal around £50m is more realistic for him.

We should forget the swap deal and just offer Napoli £50m in cash. If they say no, then move on to another target such as Lacazette.