The race is on for Sporting’s William Carvalho who according to Metro was just made available by the Portuguese side. Arsenal will be looking to close the deal on the young midfielder after Khedira seems to be straying further away from the Emirates. The 22 year old Portuguese international was subject of a £24million offer which was rejected by Sporting in their last attempt to keep their star player. Despite having a £37million buy-out-clause, Sporting will be willing to settle for a lot less than that as Carvalho insisted he wants to leave this summer.

Arsenal will have to battle it out with Real and Manchester United who have also been linked to Carvalho. United have publicly expressed their interest even since the beginning of the transfer period and seem the most determined to bring in the defensive midfielder. He is seen as the perfect replacement for Fellaini who has failed to adapt and is rumored to have begun negotiations with Napoli.

Wenger will have a hard time winning the financial battle with Manchester United who seem set on spending as much as it takes to avoid last year’s disaster. Even with Arsenal’s impressive transfer budget, Carvalho might be a bit over the top in terms of price. He has never performed in the Premier League and might be seen as a bit of a gamble which is not worth one third of the Gunners’ transfer budget.