Arsenal are ready to make an eleventh-hour move for Juventus striker Alvaro Morata with Mikel Arteta’s assistant even phoning him, according to reports.
The Gunners had hoped to sign a new forward this month but were thwarted in their attempts to sign Dusan Vlahovic – who instead moved to Juve – while Alexander Isak looks set to stay at Real Sociedad until the summer.
But the London side are looking very light up front after loaning out Folarin Balogun, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Eddie Nketiah could also join him.
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Barcelona are working on a deal to sign the Gabon international – who was banished from the Arsenal team by Arteta – but need to sell Ousmane Dembele first, while Nketiah is wanted by Newcastle and Crystal Palace.
If both players leave on deadline day, the Gunners will be left with only one senior striker for the rest of the campaign: Alexander Lacazette – who is also in the last six months of his contract.
But according to Spanish newspaper AS, Arsenal are still trying to bring in a new striker before Monday night’s deadline and are attempting to pull off a complicated deal for Morata.
The Spain international is currently on loan at Juventus from Atletico Madrid, but the arrival of Vlahovic means the Serie A club would be ready to terminate his loan.
He had been linked with a loan move to Barcelona, but Atleti have made it clear they will not strengthen a rival and will only loan Morata to a foreign side.
That has alerted Arsenal to his availability and AS claim Arteta’s assistant, Miguel Molina, has phoned Morata to convince him to move to the Emirates.
Molina, who previously worked at Atletico while Morata was also there, revealed how he would fit into the team as well as selling the Arsenal project, even describing the player as the ‘missing piece’ of the puzzle.
Morata already knows the Premier League from his time at Chelsea and listened to Molina’s pitch with interest, though has some reservations about returning to London while the deal will be tough to pull off.
