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Sky Sports: £20m star ‘close’ to joining Arsenal as Emery eyes 1st January signing

By on January 7, 2019

According to Sky Sports News via the Express, Denis Suarez is close to completing a move to Arsenal from Barcelona as Unai Emery closes-in on his first January signing.

The boss admitted over the weekend that he’s keen to strengthen his squad this month and a wide attacker is on the agenda after we lost Danny Welbeck for the rest of the season while Henrikh Mkhitaryan is also on the sidelines with a broken foot.

With Aaron Ramsey tipped to join Juventus and the long-term future of Mesut Ozil also in doubt, we need to bring in reinforcements and Suarez has emerged as a prime target in recent weeks.

The Mirror claim that Arsenal have held talks with Suarez’s representatives about a possible £20m deal with the club keen to sign the 25-year-old on an initial loan with a view to making it a permanent transfer at the end of the season.

The newspaper says Barcelona are reluctant to lose the Spaniard mid-season and are battling to keen hold of Suarez but the midfielder is believed to be eyeing a move due to a lack of regular action.

Suarez has played just 8 minutes of La Liga football under Ernesto Valverde at Barca this season so understandably he’s frustrated with his role at the club and it appears Arsenal are willing to offer him a fresh start.

And now, Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth has claimed that Sky Italia believe a move to Arsenal is now ‘close’ to completion with Emery ready to be reunited with the player having worked with him during his time at Sevilla.

Speaking on the Sky Sports Transfer Centre update today, Sheth is quoted as saying by the Express:

“As for arrivals at the Emirates. What a signing this could be. Sky in Italy claim Barcelona winger Denis Suarez is close to joining.

“Arsenal boss Unai Emery indicated at the weekend that the club are after a player who could operate on the right or left wing and he’s worked with Suarez before. The player spent a season on loan at Sevilla in 2014 when Emery was in charge.

“Interestingly Suarez travelled for yesterday’s game with Getafe but he didn’t make Barcelona’s 18-man squad.”

As Sheth mentions, Emery spoke about Suarez at the weekend and labelled him as a wide player despite the fact he’s mostly played through the middle during his time at the Nou Camp. Emery used Suarez from the wing while at Sevilla but he’s not the traditional winger Arsenal desperately need so it would be a little odd to see us splashing out £20m on him.

If he’s a replacement for Ramsey then fair enough but if we’re going to spend big on a winger then I’d prefer we went for an out-and-out wide man rather than playing Suarez out of position and not getting the best out of him.

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