Italian club Fiorentina have rejected Arsenal’s offer for star winger Juan Cuadrado, after the Gunners attempted to hijack Manchester United’s movements for the Columbian World Cup star.
Contingency Cuadrado
The Express speculate that Arsène Wenger is keen to have a contingency plan in place, just in case main transfer target Alexis Sanchez decides to pull out of a deal that would see him arrive at the Emirates this summer.
With Cuadrado shining at the World Cup finals in the past month, his valuation has increased dramatically more than the £22 million that the Gunners have offered Fiorentina for their main man.
Club officials branded the bid as ‘ridiculous’ and it is thought that the Serie A side will only consider offers starting at £28 million.
Star of the show
In addition to this, Arsenal would have to fend off interest from Manchester United and Barcelona, who are favourite to sign the winger after it was revealed he would rather join the Catalan based side than move to England.
Despite lurking in the shadows of Columbian showman James Rodriguez, the 26 year-old scored one goal and assisted four during his stint in Brazil, confirming his role as an all round team player.
With the Gunners ready to rubber stamp deals for Mathieu Debuchy and Alexis Sanchez, it is thought that Dick Law and his colleagues may drop their interest in Cuadrado and set their sights on signing a back-up goalkeeper and defensive midfielder.
Too many cooks spoil the broth
Whilst Cuadrado would be another high profiled signing to add to the Gunners rank, he is a luxury the club can do without, due to the heavy load of attacking flair players available at Wenger’s disposal.
Nevertheless, it is sensible of the club to put their foot in the door with a bid, just in case they decide to offload Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski, or the deal with Sanchez falls through at the 11th hour.
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