Arsenal desperate to sign elite Man City ace at significant discount, as star chooses between three clubs

Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Manchester City, January 2021

Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva in action

Arsenal remain firmly in the mix to sign a top-quality Manchester City player and are trying to do so at an £18.5million discount, as per reports.

Arsenal have had huge success when signing players from City recently. Last summer, they brought in left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko and striker Gabriel Jesus from the reigning Premier League champions.

Those two stars played a vital role in helping Arsenal challenge for the Prem title. Ultimately, City continued their dominance of the competition as they capitalised when Arsenal faltered in the final stretch. But Zinchenko and Jesus will look to go again and help the Gunners get some revenge in the 2023-24 campaign.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been tipped to repeat the Zinchenko and Jesus moves by snaring more players from the Etihad, where he previously worked as Pep Guardiola’s assistant.

Arsenal are interested in Ilkay Gundogan, who is due to become a free agent at the end of the month. Guardiola has publicly declared he wants the midfielder to stay put, while Gundogan’s agent has stated a decision will not be made until after the Champions League final is finished.

If Gundogan does decide to join a new club, then Arsenal will rival Barcelona for his signing.

READ MORE: Mikel Arteta faces £160m transfer conundrum after Brighton star chooses Arsenal over Chelsea

Gundogan is not the only City man in Arsenal’s sights as they are also eyeing up attacking full-back Joao Cancelo. The Portuguese may have played his last game for City after falling out with Guardiola over being left on the bench too often.

Cancelo has spent the second half of the season on loan at Bayern, where he has made 21 appearances in all competitions, managing one goal and six assists.

Arsenal aiming to land Man City player

The German giants have the option to sign Cancelo permanently for £61.5m. However, they have no intention of paying that sum, leaving the player in limbo.

Arsenal are looking to pounce on the situation by taking him to North London. And according to Sky Sports, Arsenal have held ‘early verbal talks’ about signing Cancelo.

German outlet Kicker have also provided their take on the situation, as cited by the Daily Mirror. They reveal that Arsenal are joined by La Liga titans Real Madrid and Barcelona in pursuing the 29-year-old.

And whichever club wins the race for his services could get him at a big discount. While City initially wanted £61.5m for Cancelo, they are now open to a sale at just £43m, the report claims. This represents a saving of £18.5m.

This is clearly great news for Arteta and Arsenal. However, the update does also hand them with a bit of a setback. It is claimed that Cancelo is currently leaning towards joining Madrid or Barca rather than Arsenal.

This is because he wants to head back to Spain, where he has not played since his time at Valencia between 2014 and 2018.

Due to this stance, Arsenal must put in some leg work to try and convince Cancelo to sign for them instead. They may have to try and offer him better wages than the pair of Spanish clubs.

Arteta could also explain to Cancelo his plan for getting Arsenal to become Prem champions at City’s expense next season. This would delight Cancelo given his falling out with Guardiola.

Meanwhile, Fabrizio Romano has quashed claims that a rising Arsenal star will leave for a country’s league champions this summer.