'First' striker target 'will sign' for Gunners as details of 'certain' second bid revealed

Arsenal are set to land Viktor Gyokeres over Benjamin Sesko this summer as reports in Portugal claim the Gunners are preparing an improved bid for the Sporting star.

An already very long transfer saga this summer rumbles on after a report earlier on Friday claiming Sesko is ‘ready to sign’ has been followed a few hours later by a different outlet claiming Gyokeres ‘will sign’.

Sesko has widely been reported as Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta’s top target those summer, though it’s been claimed the Gunners were considering Gyokeres instead as a result of Sesko’s supposedly high wage demands.

But the report from Football Insider has refuted those claims, insisting suggestions he is asking for a ‘crazy’ salary are ‘nonsense’, adding that the deal is ‘not being held up by his representatives’, with Sesko clear that he ‘wants to join’ the Gunners.

According to that report Sesko remains the ‘priority target’ as ‘he’s the younger option’ – he’s 22; Gyokeres is 27 – and ‘plays in a stronger league’, but that’s not what Gianluca Di Marzio has heard.

When asked about Sesko’s links to Arsenal, Di Marzio said: “It’s true that Arsenal have him in their sights, but Arsenal will sign Gyökeres because he wants to join Arsenal.

“Other clubs have tried to enter the race, like Juventus, but he will go to Arsenal, and other strikers won’t come if he goes there.

“He was their first target from the start, and now they have to find an agreement with Sporting. He will be an Arsenal player.”

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And A Bola appear to be on the same transfer track as Di Marzio, as the Portuguese outlet claim Arsenal are preparing a second bid of €60m [£51] for Gyokeres after Sporting rejected their initial offer of €55m [£47m] for the striker.

The report reveals a ‘certainty’:

‘In the elevator of the negotiations, Arsenal is available to climb another floor and reach €60 million for Gyokeres. An advance that may happen in the coming days but that, still, will continue to jam the deal, because Sporting has already made it known that the bar is higher, at 80 million. ‘What is certain is that the Londoners are preparing to return to the charge for the 27-year-old forward after having seen the possibility of Sesko going further away.’

That could be good news for Manchester United, who have already been told by Gyokeres that they have no hope of signing the Sweden international, but are yet to be rejected by Sesko, who ‘ticks a lot of boxes’ in the Red Devils’ bid to sign a new No.9 this summer.

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