ARSENAL is willing to follow up its prospective £22 million signing of Gonzalo Higuain from Real Madrid with an audacious £20m bid for Wayne Rooney - with Arsene Wenger keen on playing Manchester United’s England star in an attacking midfield role behind the Argentina striker.
Higuain is the deal Arsenal are now most confident of securing, with Carlo Ancelotti’s long-awaited announcement as manager of the Spanish giants due to come Monday, leaving the club hopeful that the impasse will be broken as Real Madrid move for their own targets and confirm the player’s departure from the Bernabeu.
But it is the prospect of a move for Rooney and the revelation that Arsenal are not put off by his £220,000-a-week wages that represents a huge cultural shift at the Emirates, where Wenger has previously boasted of the club’s more ‘socialist’ wage structure.
Wenger does not see Rooney as a centre-forward but as a link man between midfield and Higuain — the position, which the player himself says he prefers. But with Chelsea also sizing up a bid and United’s new Manager, David Moyes, due to meet Rooney in the next two weeks, the prospect of him joining the north London club remains debatable.
United will not want to sell Rooney to Chelsea, who are likely to be their main title rivals, and the player remains hopeful that his meeting with Moyes will provide a fresh start at Old Trafford, with the club acknowledging that he never formally requested a transfer from United.
That is the issue that Rooney fears has soured his relationship with United’s fans. Rooney considered a meeting he had with previous Manager, Alex Ferguson, at the end of last season was a private discussion over his future prospects and where he fitted in at the club, and that while he might have expressed his frustrations, he was not explicitly asking to leave the club.
Arsenal certainly have the finances in place to attract premier targets but their problem will be convincing those targets that they are genuine trophy contenders.
Arsenal have already missed out on their favoured names, Mario Goetze, who is joining Bayern Munich, and Borussia Dortmund’s Ilkay Gundogan, whose representatives are in talks with Real Madrid.
The club is now looking at Bayer Leverkusen midfielder, Lars Bender, as an alternative and will press on to secure the signing of Higuain this week.
Higuain’s father Jorge said, “nothing has been signed yet, but I can assure you there are advanced talks between the clubs.
“We wouldn’t arrange any personal contract before the clubs agree for the transfer. I’m aware Arsenal has made a strong offer, as well as, Juventus.”
The player, however, is understood to prefer Arsenal and Real Madrid believe the London club will make a higher bid than the Turin giants.