Andrea Berta has ‘other strikers in mind’ if Arsenal fail to reach an agreement to sign either Benjamin Sesko or Viktor Gyokeres this summer as the ‘delay’ in getting a deal done has been explained.
The Gunners’ new sporting director has been working on signing a new striker for Mikel Arteta since arriving at the Emirates, with RB Leipzig’s Sesko and Sporting’s Gyokeres the two names at the top of his shortlist to plug the priority hole in the Arsenal squad.
Both are thought to be valued at £67m by their respective clubs and while talks have been held over their signings, Arsenal fans are growing uneasy.
The Daily Mail claim Berta’s ‘softly-softly approach so as not to be forced to pay over the odds’ explains the ‘delay’ in their bid to sign supposed top target Sesko.
It’s claimed Leipzig are ‘driving a hard bargain over Sesko because they know how desperate the Gunners are for a striker and the limited availability of world-class frontmen in football today’.
In contrast, it’s claimed Sporting’s ‘keenness to offload Gyokeres has become clearer by the day and arguably weakened their hand’, while Arsenal ‘already had reservations over the 27-year-old because Portugal’s Primeira Liga is a totally different proposition to the Premier League’.
It’s claimed Arteta has set a deadline of July 19 for Berta to secure him a new striker as that’s when the Gunners fly out for their pre-season tour of Singapore and Hong Kong, while the report adds that ‘the prospect of a surprise name entering the frame is a possibility’ as Berta has ‘other striker options in mind’.
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But transfer expert Sami Mokbel confirmed on the Latte Firm podcast that it’s Sesko who has ‘more universal backing’ than any other striker on Arsenal’s radar, including Gyokeres.
Mokbel said: “If everything went according to plan, and they were to get the player they wanted to get, it would be Sesko.
“But things in football often don’t go the way that you hope, in terms of price, in terms of personal terms, and I still genuinely believe up until today that there isn’t a clear favourite in terms of who they can realistically obtain.
“I think if you were to take a vote inside Arsenal, of the people who matter, I think there would be more universal backing for a move for Sesko than there is for Gyokeres.
“But as far as I know, both of those deals are being worked on, so they can be in a position to execute when they have a full grasp of the exact numbers involved.
“There is an element of spinning plates there and Andrea Berta is actually quite renowned for that.”