Arteta adamant that Arsenal can entice a player like Vlahovic to the Premier League
Stefan Bienkowski
January 12, 2022, 11:24 CET
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has refuted claims that the club would struggle to sign a player like Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic.
The London club have been heavily linked with a move for the Serbian forward for some time now and according to reports in England, Arsenal are leading the race to sign the Serie A striker.
So far this season Vlahovic has bagged an impressive 18 goals and three assists in 22 games this season and is currently valued at €45 million.
As such, the striker has been linked with perceived "bigger" clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool, who are challenging for league titles and playing in the Champions League.
Indeed, Italian football journalist Mina Rzouki suggested on Tuesday that a club like Arsenal wouldn't entirely interest the striker.
🔴 Dušan Vlahović wants to play in the Champions League, and cares a lot about who is coaching him.
❌ Arsenal are interested but he is reportedly not keen to move there.
💰 Fiorentina are happy with the offer from #AFC €55M + Torreira but prefer 70/80M.
[via @Minarzouki] pic.twitter.com/SaWxo2nOWs
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) January 11, 2022
However, Arteta was quick to dismiss such a notion at a press conference on Wednesday morning and suggested that his club still had more than enough appeal to sign the best players in Europe.
'Arsenal have always targeted the best players in the world'
"I don't know. Historically this club has always been targeting the best players in the world and they were always interested to come here," said Arteta ahead of his team's clash with Liverpool on Thursday night.
"I can say that hasn't changed. Every time I've spoken to a player they were so willing to come. That's a big advantage for us."
Could Arsenal sign Vlahovic in January?
Whether Vlahovic ends up joining Arsenal will seemingly come down to the player's willingness to move to a club that aren't playing in the Champions League at the moment.
However, it seems as though the London club do have the money to make such a move happen and recent reports in Italy have stated that Fiorentina would be extremely interested in cashing in on the player this month.
It just remains to be seen whether Arsenal can indeed convince Vlahovic to make the move to the Emirates.