Arsenal

Arsenal

Premier League • England

Arsenal striker target agrees personal terms for summer move, but £34m fee causes hold up

Gianluca Scamacca Sassuolo

A striker Arsenal have ‘knocked on the door’ for has agreed personal terms over a transfer elsewhere, but a hitch over the £34m fee could give the Gunners an opening.

Arsenal pushed hard to sign a striker to replace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January. The Gunners stepped up their efforts to sign Dusan Vlahovic when it became apparent Aubameyamg was bound for Barcelona.

The Serbian would ultimately join Juventus, however, leaving Mikel Arteta with just Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah as recognised strikers for the remainder of the campaign.

Yet that pair too could depart this summer. Indeed, both centre-forwards are out of contract on June 30.

L’Equipe reported a one-year extension with an option for a further 12 months could be tabled to Lacazette. Though whether the Frenchman would accept those terms given interest from Barcelona and Lyon has emerged remains to be seen.

Nketiah, meanwhile, looks odds on to leave with no new deal planned.

As such, Arsenal may need at least a couple of new strikers in the summer and one name on their radar is Gianluca Scamacca.

That’s according to FcInterNews, who report Arsenal have already ‘knocked on’ Sassuolo’s door regarding the Italy international.

Scamacca stock soaring in Italy

Scamacca stands at an impressive 6ft 5in tall and has 13 goals to his name in 28 Serie A matches this season. He led the line for the national side in their recent 3-2 friendly win over Turkey on Tuesday.

Newcastle and Borussia Dortmund are also interested in signing Scamacca. However, it’s claimed there is already an agreement over personal terms in place with Inter Milan.

Scamacca would reportedly prefer to remain in Italy. As such, he has struck an ‘agreement in principle’ worth €2m per season plus add-ons with Inter.

However, the deal is in limbo thanks to the €40m (£34m) Sassuolo are demanding. At present, Inter do not have the capability to sanction a deal on that scale.

The door could therefore be left ajar from any of the other interested parties – including Arsenal – to pounce.

However, given Scamacca’s preference is to remain in his homeland, it’ll take a mighty effort to change his mind.