Arsenal will ‘break the bank’ for €100m-plus striker signing in Andrea Berta masterclass

Arsenal are ready to push the button and ‘break the bank’ for the signing of a €100m-plus striker, and TEAMtalk has been informed on which two Gunners stars could be used as makeweights to lower the overall cost of the deal.

Arsenal sought to sign a potent new striker last summer and narrowed their options down to two – Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko.

Ultimately, Arsenal opted for Gyokeres, and while it’s still early days, it does not appear that the Swede is the answer.

Arsenal may yet win the Premier League – and a couple of other trophies too – this season, but in truth, it will have had very little to do with Gyokeres who looks limited in England’s top flight.

Yet Arsenal of the present day are a financial powerhouse who can spend, spend and spend again until they get it right.

TEAMtalk’s transfer insider, Graeme Bailey, broke news back on January 22 of The Gunners making ‘discreet enquiries’ into the signing of Julian Alvarez.

The Argentine, 26, left Manchester City for Atletico Madrid in a deal worth £81.8m two summers ago, but is growing dissatisfied with his situation in Madrid.

Grumblings about Diego Simeone’s tactics and a constant inability to get the better of Real Madrid and Barcelona are irking the player.

Atleti may well open the doors to a blockbuster sale in the summer of 2026, though are determined to make a profit, and will demand at least €100m / £87m.

ESPN backed up our reporting on Arsenal and Alvarez when noting Mikel Arteta’s side are exploring a move. They also highlighted the fact Arsenal’s sporting director, Andrea Berta, is the man who brought Alvarez to Atleti when working as their sporting director.

It was also claimed Arsenal WILL table a bid for the striker if given encouragement from the player.

TEAMtalk understands Barcelona are Alvarez’s preferred destination, though there are serious doubts as to whether Barca can finance anything close to a €100m move for their eventual successor to Robert Lewandowski.

And according to Thursday’s print edition of Spanish newspaper, Sport, Arsenal are now ‘prepared to break the bank’ for Alvarez with a colossal move in the upcoming summer.

As relayed by SportWitness, the €100m asking price was reiterated in the piece, but we’ve been informed of two ways in which Arsenal could bring that price point down.

Graeme Bailey was once again at the heart of the matter one week ago when revealing intermediaries have floated the possibility of including Gabriel Martinelli or Gabriel Jesus as a makeweight.

If Alvarez were to arrive, Jesus would tumble even further down the pecking order in the striker position. His exit of the two would make the most sense.

Alvarez proved himself in England during his time at City when notching 36 goals across all competitions during his two seasons at The Etihad. It’s also important to remember that he was never a guaranteed starter during that time, thus making his returns all the more impressive.

Since moving to Atleti, Alvarez has scored 40 goals in one-and-a-half seasons, and provided 13 assists too.

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Latest Arsenal news – Sandro Tonali…

In other news, Arsenal remain interested in bringing Sandro Tonali to the Emirates Stadium in the summer of 2026, according to Fabrizio Romano, with another source revealing how much the Gunners will have to pay for him, but Newcastle United are publicly against a sale.

Elsewhere, a Bayern Munich star who will change clubs in the summer is wanted by Tottenham, but a report out of Germany claims there’s a ‘strong chance’ he joins Arsenal if they simply put an offer on the table.

Finally, TEAMtalk has exclusively revealed the identity of a Championship wonderkid Arsenal are hopeful of luring to The Emirates.