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Arsenal slap staggering price tag on forward who’s had enough; Newcastle, Aston Villa want second exit-bound star

Arsenal forwards Bukayo Saka and Folarin Balogun

Arsenal forwards Bukayo Saka and Folarin Balogun

Arsenal aim to generate an eye-watering £50m for a forward whose time at the Emirates is running out, while Aston Villa and Newcastle have been linked with a second exit-bound star, per a report.

The Gunners are splashing the cash this summer, with Kai Havertz (£65m) the first to arrive. Moves for Jurrien Timber (roughly £40m) and Declan Rice (£105m) will follow barring late drama. What’s more, with Granit Xhaka heading to Bayer Leverkusen and Thomas Partey wanted in Saudi Arabia, a second midfield arrival may soon be required.

To help balance the books, the Telegraph bring news of who could make way from Mikel Arteta’s first-team squad this summer.

Aside from Xhaka, Partey and Pablo Mari who has joined Monza for £6m, eight further stars were listed.

Cedric Soares, Rob Holding, Nuno Tavares, Kieran Tierney, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Charlie Patino, Nicolas Pepe and Folarin Balogun are the players in question.

Of the eight, the two who would help Arsenal recoup the biggest fees are undoubtedly Tierney and Balogun.

Tierney, 26, remains a high level operator at left-back when fit, and but for the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko, would still be first choice at the Emirates.

However, the presence of Zinchenko cannot be ignored and talk of a move to Aston Villa or Newcastle – or more recently Celtic following Brendan Rodgers’ re-appointment – has done the rounds.

The Telegraph provide a brief update on the Scotland international, confirming he is a player of interest to Newcastle and Villa. Football Insider previously claimed Tierney would command a fee of between £25m-£30m if moving this summer.

But the star Arsenal have the highest hopes for with regards to transfer fees is Balogun.

Arsenal want £50m for Balogun; offers ‘expected’

The 22-year-old is coming off the back of a breakthrough campaign in which he bagged 21 league goals while loaned to French side Reims.

That was good enough for joint-fourth in the Ligue 1 top scorers chart last term, with Balogun even outscoring Lionel Messi (16).

The Independent suggested Havertz’s arrival is likely to see either Balogun or Eddie Nketiah forced out. With Gabriel Jesus in the mix too, whoever is deemed fourth choice at centre-forward by Arteta will barely feature next season.

However, the Telegraph did not mention Nketiah, thus suggesting it’ll be Balogun who is turfed out – providing Arsenal receive an offer they like, of course.

To that end, the Gunners hope to receive £50m for Balogun and are ‘expecting offers’.

A permanent exit may to be in the best interests of all involved given the Daily Mail previously reported Balogun is dead set against a third loan spell away. The USA international previously spent time at Middlesbrough aside from his Reims stint last year.

The Times claimed that with Arsenal backed into a corner, they’ll reluctantly listen to offers this summer. Per the Telegraph, the bids will have to be sizeable ones before the Gunners give the greenlight to a sale.

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