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French reports: Arsenal ready to pay £44m to sign 26-goal attacker

By on July 4, 2018

According to French outlet Foot01, Arsenal are preparing a £44m bid to sign Florian Thuavin after Unai Emery identified him as a key target but Marseille value the attacker closer to £70m.

Emery has been focussing his efforts on strengthening our defence so far since arriving as manager with goalkeeper Bernd Leno, centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos and right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner arriving this summer.

Defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira is also being tipped to arrive from Sampdoria but Emery is also seemingly hoping to add to his attacking options and we’ve been linked with a number of players in recent weeks.

Thauvin has emerged as a potential target and Foot01 are citing reports from Italy that claim Emery has identified the winger as a prime transfer target and is desperate to lure him to the Emirates.

The French outlet says a £44m [€50m] bid is being prepared for the Tottenham and Bayern Munich target but it’s likely to be rejected as Marseille reportedly value Thauvin at closer to £70m.

The French international endured a nightmare spell at Newcastle that saw him score just once in 16 appearances but he’s rediscovered his best form since joining Marseille on an initial loan deal.

The move was made permanent last summer and Thuavin went on to provide an impressive 26 goals and 18 assists last season to earn a place in the French World Cup squad.

Predominantly a right-winger, the 25-year-old would give Arsenal some genuine width and another huge goal threat if we could get a deal agreed to bring him to north London this summer.

However, I would take these reports with a pinch of salt as I personally don’t believe Arsenal are ready to spend £44m+ on another attacker. Emery has a tight budget of £50m-£70m to work with this summer and we’ve sent a large portion of that kitty already [when you include £26m on Torreira].

MORE: Arsenal battling to sign £35m midfielder

We’re also expected to bring in another defender and perhaps even a second central midfielder so I don’t think we’ve got the budget to splash out on an attacker after signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in January.