Vinicius Junior is prepared to snub transfer interest from Arsenal in favour of signing a new Real Madrid contract, despite the potential arrival of Yan Diomande.
Standard Sport reported on Saturday that the Gunners had added Vinicius Jr to their shortlist of attacking targets, but that they were yet to make an approach for the player.
The Brazilian was understood to be one of several targets being considered by Arsenal, who were prepared to take advantage of his precarious contract situation.
Vinicius is entering the last 12 months of his current deal and talks over an extension are yet to bear fruit.
Per reports from Diario AS, though, Vinicius is not keen to leave Real this summer and would prefer to renew his contract. Talks over a renewal are expected to restart next week.
The gap between Vinicius’ demands and Real’s offer is thought to be minimal and there is optimism a deal can be reached.
Vinicius’ preference to stay comes in spite of the fact Real are in late-stage talks to sign RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande in a transfer expected to be worth in excess of £100m.
The two are both left-sided forwards and will be set to compete with one another for minutes.
It is a blow for Arsenal to miss out on a top target, but a move might have been tricky to facilitate regardless of Vinicius’ desire.
His £400,000-a-week wages bill would have been challenging to accommodate and would likely have forced other members of the Gunners squad to forgo pay raises, with Declan Rice and Arteta both in line for new deals.
Newly-appointed head coach Jose Mourinho had also informed the club that he was not prepared to lose any of his senior players this summer.
