Fiorentina's manager has sent a cryptic message to Arsenal and their fans as the club pursue a move for the Italian club's star centre-forward Dusan Vlahovic.
The 21-year-old has flourished in Serie A this season, scoring 17 goals in under 1,900 minutes already. It follows a 21-goal league campaign last year as the Serbian has established himself as one of the great young and upcoming strikers in Europe.
football.london reported that Arsenal have made a push to sign Vlahovic this window rather than the summer, but that the striker would prefer to remain in Serie A. Issues relating to agent fees have also arisen.
Edu is 'doing everything' possible to thrash out a deal this month, while Mikel Arteta has pushed hard to sign Vlahovic, who is his number one transfer target.
Meanwhile, Fiorentina seem keen to offload Vlahovic, who has 18 months remaining on his contract and is unlikely to renew his deal.
Arsenal, of course, are in need of a centre-forward with Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah in the final six months of their respective contracts and seemingly set to leave at the end of the season and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang currently exiled.
And now Fiorentina's manager has sent a cryptic message to the Gunners as they look to solve the striker position.
Amid inordinate transfer rumours and speculation, Vincenzo Italiano has insisted that Vlahovic remains concentrated on his job with the Italian side and has not changed throughout the transfer window.
Per Fabrizio Romano on Twitter, Italiano said: "I see the same Dusan here, every single day. We’ve lot of rumours about his future as always but nothing has changed. I can’t wait for the market to close."
With a little over a remaining in the transfer window, Arsenal are under pressure to secure the Vlahovic transfer as they push for a top-four spot in an intense battle with Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and West Ham United.
Arteta has remained coy on commenting on specific players, but has not shied away from stating his intention to add to the squad this month.
"The team are working extremely hard to get the players that we want and we have no news to give you," he said after Thursday's defeat to Liverpool, which knocked the Gunners out of the Carabao Cup and left them without the chance of winning a trophy this season.
"We have a plan to try to bring players in and try to get the players we want with the right qualities and improve the squad in the best possible way every single window."
