Arsenal Transfer Rumours: Club Cannot Lose to Napoli in Fight for Luiz Gustavo

Arsenal are in good position to upgrade their roster in the coming days, but they must watch out for outside competition before completing a deal.

James Orr of The Independent reports that the club is close to finalising a deal for Bayern Munich midfielder Luiz Gustavo. The player has become available after struggling to crack the first team on the defending Champions League winners.

Of course, he is still a very talented player who would be a key contributor on virtually every other club in the world. Arsenal are one of those examples, and a skillful holding midfielder could help the squad compete with the top opponents in the Premier League.

According to Tancredi Palmeri of CNN, Gustavo also appears interested in making the move:

Unfortunately, he also reported some other news on the situation:

It is not unusual for there to be competition in the transfer market for a top player. However, the fact that Napoli is involved should be cause for Arsenal supporters to have some level of concern.

As Kirsten Schlewitz of NBC Sports notes, the Italian club has already stolen an Arsenal target this year when it signed Gonzalo Higuain. This came off the heels of selling Edinson Cavani, and the funds have still not run out from that transaction.

When the transfer window opened, it appeared almost certain that Higuain would sign with Arsenal. Sid Lowe of The Guardian was one of many who reported that a deal was virtually completed. Unfortunately, the team hesitated and was eventually trumped.

As of now, the Gustavo situation appears to be looking up for the Gunners. According to Fernando Duarte of The Guardian, Gustavo had some encouraging words about a potential transfer:

"

I have heard about the Arsenal interest. It's a big club we're talking about here so of course I'd like to play for them.

Arsenal play a very attractive brand of football and are in the Champions League. They also have a very clever manager in Arsène Wenger. Even when Bayern beat them in the last Champions League [on aggregate] you could see they are not pushovers.

"

He wants to find a place where he can get regular playing time in a World Cup year, and it seems as though Arsenal is the perfect fit.

The only problem is that the team has come this close to completing a transfer before and failed to get it done. After this summer of inactivity, another major failure would not go over well with the club or its fans.

This could lead to a drop in confidence that would hurt the team's chances of cracking the top four next season.

Adding Gustavo would be a huge upgrade in the middle of the pitch, but the pressure is now on to complete a deal. Arsenal must act quickly and be willing to spend money to make sure they to bring in the Brazilian player before someone else does. 

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