Arsenal may move to sign Ferran Torres this month following their failure to bring Mykailo Mudryk to north London, claims The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards.
The Gunners are on the lookout for an attacking signing after they were blown out of the water in their pursuit of Mudryk.
The Ukrainian joined Chelsea for £89m after weeks of flirting with Arsenal on social media.
90min reported that Arsenal are now eyeing Barcelona duo Raphinha and Torres as potential alternatives.
Speaking on Transfer Gossip Daily, the Daily Telegraph’s Edwards claimed that the Gunners may favour Torres as the preferred alternative due to his versatility after missing out on their priority.
He said: “The thing with the Mudryk signing is, they’ve [Arsenal] just backed off really, really easily and really, really quickly.
“That does make me think that they must have someone else lined up. There must be a backup plan.
“He [Torres] would be the direct replacement for Jesus, who’s obviously injured, so they are in the market for a striker.
“Arteta worked with Torres at Manchester City, so he’ll know all about him, that’s obviously a connection that worked for Jesus and Zinchenko in terms of bringing those players to the Emirates from Man City, so I can definitely see there being some sense in that.”
TIF Thoughts on Edwards’ comments…
More bad news for Arsenal in terms of personnel came over the weekend, with Arteta admitting that Jesus will be out for “longer than expected” with the knee injury he sustained at the World Cup (via talkSPORT).
Although Eddie Nketiah has so far burdened Jesus’ absence fantastically with four goals in his last five games and four wins coming from those, Torres would prove an option as both a striker and a winger.
Although deployed as a winger for the majority of his career, he’s still found the net 11 times in 28 games as a striker (via Transfermarkt).
He’s arguably failed to live up to expectations at Barcelona with only six goal involvements coming in 22 games this campaign, with only eight of those in the starting lineup. But he’s still a player with real quality, previously dubbed “magic” by The Athletic’s Dermot Corrigan.
Despite Edwards’ claim, Torres joined City in August 2020, whilst Arteta was appointed Gunners boss in December 2019, meaning that they never actually worked together at City.
But with the pair sharing the experience of working with Pep Guardiola, it’s a mutual benefit that could mean a smoother transition for the 22-year-old if he arrives.