Arsenal Transfer Rumour: Wenger to Splash the Cash on Serie A Striker

Arsenal are reportedly ready to break the bank in the January transfer window, with a £30m move for Napoli and Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani touted as Arsene Wenger attempts to save his team's season. Arsenal's return of 16 points from 11 games is the Gunners' worst start in the 20-year history of the Premier League.

Wenger and the Arsenal board have been under immense pressure from the club's supporters and shareholders, due to their refusal to make any major signings even after losing the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie and Alex Song over the last two seasons. And after a 3-3 draw at home to London rivals Fulham, which saw the Gunners fall 11 points behind the league leaders, the French tactician finally caved in and has now decided to join the race for Cavani, according to the Daily Mail.

Wenger signed Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud in the summer but has yet to spend any of the £24m raised from van Persie's sale to Manchester United in August. The Arsenal manager sent his chief scout, Steve Rowley, to Naples to watch Cavani's performance against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the Europa League fixture in midweek and unsurprisingly received a highly favourable report, after the 25-year-old scored all four goals for the Serie A side in an emphatic 4-2 victory over the Ukrainians.

Cavani, who moved to Napoli from Palermo for a fee of around £13.5m in 2010, scored 33 goals in each of his first two seasons with the club. The Uruguay international has continued his sublime form this term as well and has already netted 13 times in as many appearances.

Several top European clubs, including Chelsea and Manchester City, were linked with a move for Cavani in the summer and it will take a major offer from Arsenal to tempt Napoli to part with the talismanic striker, especially after he signed a contract extension with the Italians, which will keep him in Naples till 2017.

Cavani, who has 79 goals in 108 matches for Walter Mazzarri's side, is thought not to be keen to leave for a bigger club before the end of the season, as he has the legendary Diego Maradona's all-time Napoli record of 115 goals in his sights.