Arsenal make Alvaro Morata their top transfer target for the summer
Arsenal have made Juventus striker Alvaro Morata their top transfer for the summer as manager Arsene Wenger looks to add more reinforcements up front. The Gunners have been yearning for someone who would score goals on a regular basis and Morata has been earmarked as the guy who could put an end to the north London club's goalscoring woes.
The Telegraph reports that the Gunners may have to take a complicated path to sign the player as Real Madrid are interested in activating his buy-out clause and sell him to some other club for a profit. The final fee is expected to be in the range of £30m ($43m) but given the resources that Wenger has in his disposal, it should not be a major worry for the Frenchman. Morata has scored six goals and assisted three in 14 league starts for the Serie A club.
The Gunners have a good working relationship with Real Madrid when it comes to transfers, having bought Mesut Ozil from the Spanish giants in 2013. Morata is being prepared as a replacement for Theo Walcott, for whom the Gunners are willing to listen to offers after the end of the season. The 27-year-old has been in a woeful form since the turn of the year and Wenger believes that he has run his course at the Emirates.
Arsenal are currently reliant on Danny Welbeck to lead the lines, with Olivier Giroud coming off the bench on the last three occasions against Barcelona, Everton and Watford. Alex Iwobi is another player who is capable of playing across the front three and has scored two goals in his last two encounters in the league.
Apart from a striker, Wenger is also in the market to sign a midfielder and Borussia Monchengladbach stalwart Granit Xhaka has been rumoured to be at the top of the Frenchman's list in the summer. The 23-year-old can play as a deep lying playmaker or a midfield destroyer, allowing them some flexibility in the middle of the pitch. The Gunners have Francis Coquelin and Momamed Elneny as a midfield combination at the moment and the Frenchman has recently revealed that he is happy with the progress they have made.
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