It appears that Arsenal have ended their pursuit of Wayne Rooney in favour of Gonzalo Higuain, who appears close to an Emirates switch.
The BBC’s David Ornstein, who has very reliable contacts within Arsenal, had twice denied Arsenal are in for the England international, despite rampant Twitter and press speculation to the contrary.
Today he confirmed Arsenal were interested in Higuain and continued to deny Rooney.
Volumes
The information Arsenal leak to the press is normally driven by an agenda.
Many times they’ve told the BBC they’re not interested in a player, only to sign them a week later. Normally confirmed interest is only when a player is close to joining.
So considering they’ve confirmed Higuain is a target while still denying Rooney is close means that’s probably the closest thing to the truth we’ll get until the 31st of August.
The news that Arsenal are pursuing an attacking midfielder as well as Higuain also suggests Rooney is no longer on the agenda, as the Englishman fulfils a dual role as a number 10 and number 9. It seems Arsenal want two distinct players for each of those two roles, however. Which is no bad thing.
Careful
Arsenal could just be keeping a deal for Rooney very quiet, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Various Twitter accounts are convinced he’s close to signing, but there hasn’t been much in the way of reliable press reports on it, bar a couple, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
Still, Higuain looks reasonably likely to join, so that’s no bad thing.
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