Having lost Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona this summer, Arsene Wenger is keen to see Thiago Alcantara move in the opposite direction in the January transfer window.
With some of the money from both Fabregas and Samir Nasri’s transfers still unspent, in addition to a relatively quiet transfer window prior to their departures, Wenger should have considerable financial backing in the January window should he decide to strengthen his squad.
Seen as a like for like replacement for Fabregas, Wenger will have to hope that his team can get through to January and still remain in contention for European qualification, and then the addition of Thiago can further help their bid for European football.
Unfortunately for Wenger, Thiago has made a good start to the season, scoring one and adding two assists in Barcelona’s 5-0 win over Villarreal on the opening day of the season, therefore adding a fair amount to the club’s valuation of him.
Although now officially a member of Barcelona’s first-team, unlike last season when he was registered to their ‘B’ side but made several appearances for their first-team, the arrival of Cesc has arguably pushed Thiago further down the pecking order, and may be open to a move away from Camp Nou this month should he not receive enough game time.
Spanish media Cadena Ser has mooted a possible figure of €20 million as being enough to satisfy Spanish giants Barcelona, and it is not all that suprising when you consider Thiago’s good start to the season, as well as Barcelona’s dislike for losing their young talented players.
Although Wenger could well be backed with this much money, it is not in his nature to pay this much for a player, even one of Thiago’s ability, and he will certainly look to negotiate a lower price for the midfielder, especially as they have already acquired the playmaking abilities of Mikel Arteta.
Click HERE to see the original article. This article was first published on TransferTavern
Written by Escapini
Fuk ahmed musa & arteta is no comparison to Alicantara! Top class – dont dilly dally pay the £16.6M!
In Arsene we trust!!!!!!!!!
I wil like arsene wenger to go for hammed musa.
I will Like AW to go for THIAGO and i think he will help Arsenal alot
I will Like AW to go for THIAGO and i think he will help Arsenal alot.
bad idea. if we buy from barcelona and make him into a high quality star. they will come back and do a cesc style move on him.
he has an £81 million release clause so I really think that this is bullshit.
So instead of taking Thiago free plus cash in the Fabregas deal in the summer we’re going to buy him for 20M. And they say Arsene is an astute business man.
What about his BARCA DNA, he will come to us then 3 or 4 years be world class and then return to BARCA?