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Arsenal ready to meet £17m buyout clause to sign Portuguese international

By on April 24, 2018

According to a report by TeamTalk, Arsenal are ready to meet Ricardo Pereira’s £17m buyout clause and will hold talks with the Porto stars agent to discuss a move to the Emirates this summer.

Arsenal may not know who their manager will be next season after Arsene Wenger confirmed he’ll leave the club this summer but Sven Mislintat is still pressing ahead with our transfer business.

Our Head of Recruitment has been tasked with overseeing our summer dealings and a new right-back is reportedly on the agenda as we have very little back-up for Hector Bellerin.

Mathieu Debuchy was released in January so Calum Chambers has been deputising for Bellerin in recent months but he’s not suited to the full-back position as his future is in the middle of defence.

A Bola, via TeamTalk, are reporting that Arsenal have made Pereira a key target and are ready to meet the Portuguese international’s £17m [€20m] buyout clause in his Porto contract.

The Portuguese outlet says Arsenal scouts have been impressed by the 24-year-old after watching him this season and we’re ready to hold talks with his agent to discuss a move to north London.

We aren’t the only club interested as the report says Man Utd and Tottenham are also keen but Arsenal are understood to be in the driving seat to bring Pereira to the Premier League this summer.

After struggling to make it in Portugal, Pereira spent an impressive two-year spell on loan at Nice between 2015-2017 and he’s now established himself as Porto’s first choice right-back this season.

He’s also able to play left-back or as a wing-back if needed so his versatility would be a useful asset for whoever is in charge next season and £17m seems like a decent deal in today’s market.

However, I’d guess that Pereira will want to wait and see who Arsenal’s next manager is going to be and find out if he’d be in his plans before committing to a move to the Emirates so any deal will probably have to wait a few weeks.

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