Arsenal, Juve swap for ‘greatest youth player’ as Gunners given ‘inevitable’ centre-back boost

It’s ‘inevitable’ that Arsenal and Liverpool’s top centre-back target will be on the move in the new year, whole the Gunners have been offered a striker in exchange by Juventus for one of their academy products.

TROUBLE WITH TONEY

After Friday’s gossip reported Brentford have never being less motivated to sell Ivan Toney, to Arsenal or anyone else, Saturday’s column features an inevitable list of alternatives.

Dominic Solanke, Viktor Gyokeres and Ollie Watkins were among a previous list of four options, also including Toney, but CBS Sports have now come up with a different trio with Brentford quite reasonably deciding that selling their best player with relegation a possibility would be tantamount to ‘madness’.

Victor’s Osimhen and Boniface of Napoli and Bayer Leverkusen respectively, along with Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez is quite the trio, and while they may indeed be ‘on their radar’, successfully luring them to the Emirates mid-season is a rather different matter.

KEEN ON KEAN?

Juventus are very interested in Arsenal academy product Charlie Patino, who has got three goals and four assists on loan at Swansea in the Championship this season,

Described by top Italian talent scout Michele Fratini as an “all-rounder” who is “perhaps Arsenal’s greatest player at youth level” and is “among the 50 strongest young people in the world” (we assume he means footballers rather than young people in general…), the secret of Patino’s talent is out in Italy.

Inter Milan are also said to be keeping tabs on the 20-year-old as a possible successor to Hakan Calhanoglu, but Juve sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli has reportedly been making ‘trips to London’ to take a look at Patino (presumably to then realise he was better off going to Wales).

Anyway, Tuttosport claim Giuntoli has been told that Patino won’t be allowed to leave for any less than £20m, ‘an obstacle that the Juventus director will try to overcome by introducing the counterpart Moise Kean’.

Arsenal do need a striker, but probably won’t be hugely keen on landing one who is goalless in 12 Serie A appearances this season.

INEVITABLE INACIO

Arsenal and Liverpool are both said to be very keen on Sproting Lisbon’s Goncalo Inacio, and Correio da Manha claim that both Premier League sides are pushing hard to land the centre-back in January.

Previous reports suggested the Gunners were willing to loan Inacio back for the season in a bid to beat their rivals to his signature, but it’s now being suggested that it will be a straight battle to sign and keep him in the winter window.

Inacio’s £52m release clause is thought to be within reach of both Arsenal and Liverpool, with Manchester United and Real Madrid also said to be keeping tabs, and the report claims a move in the new year is now ‘inevitable’.