Arsenal preparing January move for AS Roma striker Antonio Sanabria

Arsenal are reportedly preparing a January move for AS Roma striker Antonio Sanabria.

According to the Mirror, the 18-year-old Paraguayan striker, who moved to Italy in the summer has failed to establish himself with the Serie A club and is now looking for a move away with the Gunners interested in signing him.

Arsene Wenger is light on the striker front after letting Lukas Podolski and Yaya Sanogo leave on loan to Inter Milan and Crystal Palace respectively for the remainder of the season.

Currently, the north London club have just Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck as outright strikers. Moreover, the latter is suffering from a thigh injury, which will keep him out for at least two more weeks.

The Gunners do have cover in the form of Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott, but Arsene Wenger could look to bring in more cover in case of injuries to his senior strikers.

Sanabria is a product of the famed Barcelona academy and with the Catalan club not renewing his deal, he is open to move in January. The player was linked with a move to Arsenal in the summer, but eventually chose to join Roma, where he has failed to make a single start and force himself into the manager's plans.

The report claims that the French manager is looking at the Paraguayan forward as one for the future and is open to signing him during the ongoing January transfer window.

Meanwhile, Gunners forward Walcott, who only recently made a return to the first team after recovering from a long-term injury believes that Arsenal's defensive performance will determine the result when they take on Manchester City on Sunday.

"Defensively from the front to the back we were very solid [against Stoke]. While at times Stoke passed the ball very well, they didn't really threaten the goal, so if we do that against Man City there's no reason why we can't get a result. It is going to come down to our defensive display - everyone needs to work for each other," Walcott told Arsenal's official site.