Arsenal in Talks with Sporting Lisbon Over William Carvalho Transfer

Arsenal have reportedly opened talks with Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon over a move for midfielder William Carvalho.

According to talkSPORT, the Portuguese club have slashed the midfielder's asking price and are willing to accept an offer in the region of £24.5m, despite the player having a £35m release-clause.

But Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho has admitted that they will only accept the knock down price if Arsenal are willing to part with one or two of their players either on loan or permanently.

"Big business both in financial terms and in terms of players," de Carvalho said, as quoted by Portuguese newspaper OJogo.

The players that have been mentioned as potential makeweights in the deal are, Yaya Sanogo, Serge Gnabry, Ryo Miyaichi and Francis Coquelin.

However, the former among them is unlikely to be allowed to leave as Sanogo is the sole back up for Arsenal's number one striker Olivier Giroud.

Apart from him, the other three players have been linked with moves away from the club; Gnabry has been touted for a possible loan switch this season and the latter two in that group could be shipped out permanently as they have failed to make an impact despite their lengthy stay with the Gunners.

Arsene Wenger has been linked to various midfielders over the summer, but has refused to admit interest in any of the players. Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira's name has cropped up on a number of occasions, but manager Carlo Ancelotti has recently confirmed that the German international will remain with the club in spite of rejecting a new contract offer.

The 21-year-old Portuguese midfielder has been a long-term target for Arsenal, with reports earlier in the summer suggesting that a bid for the player was rejected by Sporting. However, those reports were quashed after the Portuguese club denied any bids for the midfielder.

The north London club could face competition from Manchester United, as they have also been long standing admirers of Carvalho.