Arsenal have been eyeing the signing of Pedro Neto from Wolverhampton, but it seems incredibly unlikely with the transfer deadline looming.
All Premier League clubs have until 11pm on Thursday 1 September to get their transfer work done and it looks like Arsenal won’t be able to seal a deal with Wolves by then.
Arsenal were already busy this summer, having signed Marquinhos, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko before the start of the season.
However, Arsenal have been interested in signing another winger, and while Neto likely won’t join, Arsenal have alternatives planned.
Arsenal has options to choose from
Wolves are believed to want more than £50m at this point in the window for Neto and this has reduced Mikel Arteta’s team’s chances of making a move for the player.
Arsenal were interested in bringing in a player for the wings, having previously targeted names like Rafinha, who ended up going to Barcelona.
There may be other options for the club, with Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha being one option, while Real Madrid’s Marco Asensio is another, particularly given his desire to leave the Spanish and European champions.
🚨 Tweet embed: “Pedro Neto is one of the players they love. Edu really values the player and the same is for Mikel Arteta. They consider Neto the perfect player for them but Wolves want more than £50m, so it’s a complicated deal for them.” [@wettfreunde] #afc
– afcstuff (afcstuff) August 29 2022
In addition, there has also been interest in Eindhoven’s Cody Gakpo, but the move could be a bit complicated as other European and English teams are interested in him.
Some Arsenal players could fill that void – Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli being the most prominent – while new signing Vieira could play via attack, according to Arteta, who outlined this in training.
Marquinhos, another summer transfer, is also an option while Reiss Nelson, who had an impressive loan spell at Feyenoord last season and has recovered from injury, could take the role.
Arsenal have alternatives for the position and they may not just have to look at options outside their squad, with many within the squad having a chance to grow.
