Arsenal could be ready to do battle with Wolverhampton Wanderers for yet another South American talent, with Racing’s Charly Alcaraz also on their list.
That’s according to Marca, who put Arsenal and Wolves on a long list of European clubs eyeing up the midfielder this summer.
Yesterday we brought you a report on how the Premier League duo were going head to head for São Paulo youngster Marquinhos, with the Gunners pushing to overtake Bruno Lage’s side in the race for his signature.
But it seems he is not the only South American talent they like, with Marca saying Alcaraz is also on both of their lists.
The newspaper explains that Alcaraz ‘enters Europe’s orbit’ after his performances this season, and there is a growing list of suitors.
Alcaraz is considered the ‘golden nugget of the Argentine mine’ and could follow in the steps of Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez by making a move to Europe.
Several clubs in Europe have ‘asked more or less in depth’ about the player and sent scouts to ‘follow him closely’, and both Arsenal and Wolves are among those to have done so.
The major issue for them to deal with is Racing’s reluctance to sanction a deal, having tied the youngster to a deal until 2026.
They ‘will not make it easy’ for the player to leave, particularly as he has a $25m release clause in his current deal.
They won’t ask for that, though, and are instead looking for ‘around $20m’, which works out at around £16.4m at the current exchange rate.
Whether any side will pay that much isn’t mentioned, just that Alcaraz is ‘attracting more and more attention’ because he ‘does not stop growing’ under the careful tutelage of Fernando Gago.
