Arsenal’s asking price for player now seen as ‘acceptable’ by club – Just needs to lower his wages

After making it very clear he wanted to stay at AS Roma beyond the current season, Henrikh Mkhitaryan appears to have forced Arsenal’s hand.

Wednesday’s edition of Corriere dello Sport is full of optimism that a deal between the two sides could be struck, with the Gunners now lowering their asking price to €10m.

This is seen as an ‘acceptable’ amount by the Serie A side, who are keen to grant Paulo Fonseca his wish of continuing to work with the Armenia international after promising signs he could get the best out of the former Borussia Dortmund star in between his injury woes.

If both Arsenal and Roma can agree on the price, all that would be left to do would be for the 31-year-old to lower his wages to fit the Italians’ wage budget; something he is already prepared to do.

It’s all very encouraging, and it all seems to have stemmed from both Fonseca and Mkhitaryan talking to the press about how they like working with each other.

Since Chris Smalling has yet to really do that, his situation is a bit more complicated, as he doesn’t appear to be trying to get Manchester United to lower their asking price of £20m.