Arsenal are ready to test Paris St Germain’s resolve over Bradley Barcola.
The 23-year-old started for France against Sweden on Tuesday night under the gaze of an Arsenal delegation and has long been on the radar of the Premier League champions, along with Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa.
PSG are working on adding Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig and Monaco’s Maghnes Akliouche but have no plans to sell Barcola as it stands.
They are selling Kang-in Lee to Atletico Madrid, have sold Goncalo Ramos to AC Milan and are in talks with Juventus over Randal Kolo Muani’s departure.
That has given them financial room to work on Diomande and Akliouche while not having to lose Barcola. Though they also want a centre-back.
Barcola, however, has yet to decide his future. He is not inclined to sign a new deal and knows Liverpool are also very keen on his signature.
Arsenal are set to ramp up their interest in highly-rated PSG and France star Bradley Barcola
Arsenal have discussed Morgan Rogers at Villa but they are reluctant to sell and will point to British record transfer figures if pushed.
Equally, PSG would want a similar price for Barcola if he tries to force their hand to go.
Arsenal’s pattern under Andrea Berta is to run parallel negotiations until deals fall into place.
Similarly, they have bid for Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes but enquired for Bournemouth’s Alex Scott.
They have also been offered Bruges winger Christos Tzolis and spoken to representatives of Bayer Leverkusen’s Kerim Alajbegović.
Arsenal are looking to bring in around four new players but all of high quality.
Barcola certainly fits the bill and the Gunners believe he would be keen to join but they won’t be his only suitors.
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