Arsenal: 4 summer transfers close to being completed

4. Emi Buendia

Interested clubs: Arsenal, Aston Villa
Rumoured fee: £35m-£40m

This one is heating up. It’s been impossible to avoid the speculation surrounding Emi Buendia. He is the talk of the town.

He’s also the source of a bid as two clubs have made their opening offers to Norwich, neither being accepted. The exact figure isn’t known but both Arsenal and Aston Villa have submitted ‘£30m+’ figures, which could well be a flat £30m with a few add-ons thrown in for good measure.

Either way, while it will take more cold, hard cash to lure the Argentine away from Carrow Road, his departure will happen soon enough. Both interested sides are due to up their bids in the coming days and a deal is said to be ‘close’.

Arteta clearly wants the 24-year-old and with the first bid made it’s now highly unlikely that the plug will be pulled. Negotiations will be harder to complete with Buendia away in South America once the Copa America kicks off, where he is already, and the next week or so will be crucial steps in the process.

Who does he plump for, though? Villa have shown they’re willing to spend big and they have the cash to blow, while Emi Martinez will also be having a word with his international teammate in the training camp trying to lure him to the midlands.

Arsenal surely have more pulling power, right? Right? No point messing around here, there’s competition and we already endured two awful losses to Villa last season. Please, not another one.