Journalist: Arsenal keen on signing 25-year-old Portuguese forward
Arsenal are keen on a deal to sign Andre Silva from Eintracht Frankfurt this summer as they look to offload Alexandre Lacazette, according to Duncan Castles.
The north London side are believed to be on the lookout for a number of new recruits this summer as they look to prepare for Mikel Arteta’s second full season in charge.
Arsenal are looking to challenge for a top-four finish in the Premier League next season after they finished eighth for the second campaign running last term.
Portugal international Silva has been touted as a possible target for the Gunners this summer as Arteta looks to strengthen his attacking line-up at The Emirates.
According to Castles, Arsenal are indeed interested in a deal, but they will have to offload some players before making a move, with Lacazette one of the candidates to be sold.
Speaking on the Transfer Window Podcast last week, Castles said: “Andre Silva scored 28 goals and made eight assists from 32 Bundesliga appearances for Eintracht Frankfurt last season.
“He almost got them into the Champions League but they just missed out on a place to Erling Haaland’s Dortmund team by one point.
“Silva is 25. He has been at a lot of top clubs in his career. He started at Porto, Milan and then Sevilla.
“For a big chunk of that time, he has been affected by a bad knee issue which took medical staff a time to solve. He wasn’t happy with his handling at Sevilla.
“He has now turned back into the striker that people expected him to be when he was at the young stage of his career at FC Porto. He is only under contract until 2023.
“Interestingly, he has been targeted by RB Leipzig, who are probably one of the best judges of talent in European football at present. They see him as an option to be the long-term replacement for Timo Werner. They are also looking at Patson Daka from RB Salzburg who has a lot of interest from the Premier League.
“Frankfurt are asking €40m for the player but there is an expectation that won’t be achieved and they’ll be forced to sell him for less money.
“Leipzig don’t want to pay €40m for him. Arsenal have expressed an interest and done a lot of preparatory work on his deal. They have told Andre Silva they need to sell before they can bring him in.
“The player they want to sell is Alexandre Lacazette…. I’m told Silva’s preference is to move to England rather than stay in the Bundesliga.
“The difficulty for Arsenal is managing to sell their high-salary players for a reasonable price to raise the cash they want to refresh and change the team.”
Silva was in fine form for Eintracht Frankfurt last season as he scored 28 goals and made five assists in 32 appearances for the German club.
The attacker is currently on duty with Portugal at Euro 2020.
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