It appears that until Manuel Locatelli signs for Juventus, Arsenal are going to be brought into the mix pretty much consistently.
That’s because the Gunners made an offer for the Italy international, which appears to have been accepted by Sassuolo, only to be met by a brick wall when it came to negotiating personal terms.
Gazzetta dello Sport are reporting this on Tuesday, claiming the midfielder ‘hesitated’ when faced with the option to move to the Emirates, because while Arsenal ‘had the total satisfaction’ of the Serie A side with their €40m, they ‘didn’t have it from the player’.
The reason for that is Locatelli ‘wants to play the Champions League’ and has singled out Juventus as his ‘ideal destination’ next season, having let his current club know as much.
In fact, he’s gone as far as saying that he ‘won’t accept another destination’, really forcing Sassuolo’s hand in negotiations and giving the Turin side the advantage.
For Arsenal, it seems their poor season last year has really weakened them in negotiations, at least when it comes to Locatelli, forcing Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar to look elsewhere.
