Sporting Lisbon Offer William Carvalho New Contract to Ward Off Arsenal and Manchester United Interest

Sporting Lisbon are reportedly set to offer Arsenal and Manchester United target William Carvalho a contract extension.

According to the Express, the Portuguese club is keen to offer the player fresh terms, which could see him earn more than he does now.

Both Arsenal and Manchester United were keen on signing him and reports suggest the Gunners had a couple of bids rejected by Sporting.

Arsene Wenger and Louis van Gaal had made a tough-tackling, box-to-box midfielder a priority during the summer transfer window and were linked to multiple targets.

United were the favourites to land Arturo Vidal from Juventus, while Arsenal looked at Sami Khedira from Real Madrid and Southampton's Morgan Schneiderlin. However, they failed to persuade those players to join their clubs.

Arsenal were even said to have made a last-ditch player-plus-cash deal that included Costa Rica striker Joel Campbell and a £13m fee to tempt the Portuguese club, but that was declined.

Sporting reportedly offered Carvalho a one-year extension on his current deal, which would allow the club to demand a significantly higher fee than the £24m they have asked for previously.

Meanwhile, Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla has defended Spain's tiki-taka style of football and argued it was not dead despite the international team's exit in the World Cup's group stages.

"In my opinion 'tiki-taka' is crucial for football," Cazorla told Arsenal Player. "I identify myself with the style because it was playing this way how Spain achieved success," he told Arsenal's official site.

"Everyone says this was the best football played by a national side for ages. And if you lose, that doesn't mean the style is dead. It's not that everything looks beautiful when you win or ugly when you lose."

"Spain have their philosophy, they will stick to it and I'm sure we'll succeed again very soon."