According to the Express, north London club Arsenal are set to hijack West Ham United’s £26m transfer move for striker Carlos Bacca from Serie A side AC Milan, as Arsene Wenger tries desperately to sign another striker this summer.
Wenger has already signed Switzerland international midfielder Granit Xhaka, while a deal has been finalised to sign J.League youngster Takuma Asano. However, the London club still need a quality striker, after failing to land England international and Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy a month ago.
Top strikers like Argentine Gonzalo Higuain, Spaniard Alvaro Morata and Frenchman Alexandre Lacazette have all been linked with a switch to Arsenal in recent weeks, but it looks like the Arsenal boss is looking towards a fresh target. Obviously the main factor is value-for-money, due to Wenger’s price sensitivity.
With Madrid rejecting Chelsea’s bid for Morata, it is obvious Los Blancos are not looking to sell the Spain international striker and with Napoli are holding out for the full release clause of Higuain, which reports claim is put at £78.5m, it is easy to see why Wenger is all of a sudden interested in a player he could have signed last summer from Sevilla.
Bacca, 29, has continued his impressive run of form, scoring 20 goals in 42 matches for the Serie A club last season. Nevertheless, he couldn’t stop AC Milan from finishing in the 7th position on the Serie A league. The Colombian only recently hinted he would like to play in the Champions League, which means West Ham have little or no chance of signing him.
It is obvious Higuain is a better player, but it would be insane for Wenger or anyone else for that matter to pay the amount of money Napoli are demanding for a striker who will be 29 soon.
Considering how inflated the transfer market is, signing Bacca for £26 million won’t be too unreasonable. He has certainly shown that he is a prolific striker. During his days at Sevilla, he was always scoring 20-plus goals per season. He managed to continue his rich vein of form even at Milan, which is a clear indication that he knows where the net is.
