The reports from Italy and Spain tonight look ominously coordinated, from Arsenal's point of view. Gonzalo Higuaín look bound for Serie A and Napoli. According to La Repubblica in Italy, an official confirmation is hours away.
It mirrors the story from Diario AS in Spain, where the deal between Real Madrid and the Italians was made a few days ago. The news tonight is that Higuaín has been persuaded to join Napoli instead of Arsenal, by compatriot Enrique Lavezzi among others.
The Italian news agency ANSA have also seen fit to report the imminent signing.
Regular readers of this blog know that no signing is ever official until the player poses uneasily with a new shirt on an official club website. Still, the feeling of the last week or so has been that Arsenal went as far in the bidding as their evaluation of Higuaín let them. Even if the player himself has been widely reported to prefer Arsenal and the Premier League, the selling club was left to make the decision for him.
Meanwhile, the latest reports in England is that Arsenal have made a £40,000,001 bid for Luis Suárez of Liverpool. (Reported in the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror.)
There are legal and contractual disputes about Suárez' contract. Some say £40m is enough to force Liverpool to accept, some say that the clause obliges them to "inform" the striker. Still, it's not what the player's current management would wish for the day before the so-called "crunch talks" with a disgruntled employee.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid may yet scupper Arsenal plans for a second time. After selling Higuaín they could well bid for Suárez as a replacement. After all, they could offer at least the same terms, as much Champions League football as Arsenal, and the added attraction for the ill-disciplined striker to leave England and the poor reputation he has earned himself there.
Which would leave Arsenal clutching at their second choice striker targets, as this blog has already predicted.
The dominoes are falling, it seems. What hopes fall with them, the next few days will show.
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