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Arsenal have lodged a bid for Brazilian midfielder Danilo.
That is according to the media in Brazil, who report that the Gunners have tabled an offer of £16.7 million to Palmeiras for the 20-year-old.
The North London side have been left short in central midfield with Granit Xhaka and Albert Sambi Lokonga their only recognised options available at the moment. Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been allowed to join Roma on loan for the rest of the season, and the Italian club have an option to buy.
With Xhaka now having contracted Covid, Arteta’s options are even more threadbare now and reinforcements are desperately needed.
Meanwhile, Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny are away with their countries at the African Cup of Nations and Elneny is out of contract in the summer anyway, and is not being offered a new deal by the club.
Danilo is left-footed, operates primarily as a defensive midfielder and, at 20 years old, fits the age profile of the type of player that the Gunners want io bring into the club now.
Palmeiras though would prefer to sell him at the end of he season so it remains o be seen how they react to the offer.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.