Arsenal look like they might just get their defensive midfielder in the January transfer window after all, with Spartak Moscow urged to sell the Brazilian Romulo to the English Premier League club.
Reports on Wednesday suggested Arsenal were ready to offer £9.5 million and a Yaya Sanogo loan to Spartak Moscow for Romulo.
The Brazilian, who suffered a serious injury which kept him out of action for over a season, has shown good form this campaign, which has in turn caught the eye of Arsenal and Arsene Wenger.
And as far as former Spartak Moscow player Valery Rheingold is concerned, the Russian club should consider selling Romulo to Arsenal if they do receive a firm offer in the January transfer window.
"Yes, the Brazilian is a good player but if the offer is there to sell him you need to let him go," he told Izvestia.
"If Romulo learns that Spartak won't let him go to Arsenal then he may harbour resentment and not play worse after the failed move.
"It is necessary for Spartak Moscow to trust their youth academy graduates and stop relying so much on foreigners."
As far as Rheingold is concerned, Romulo is not "indispensable" to this Spartak Moscow setup.
"In general Romulo is a useful player who gets through a lot of work," the former player added.
"He is better than Rafael Carioca and the other Spartak options but I can't say he's indispensable. By nature he is not a leader.
Arsenal are in the market for a defensive midfielder in the January transfer window, with the likes of William Carvalho and Morgan Schneiderlin still on Wenger's radar.
With the club not thought to have that much of a budget in the winter window – reports suggest it is between £20-30 million – bringing in Romulo would make sense for Wenger, who also desperately needs a central defender.
Arsenal are seriously short in the centre-back position at the moment, and with Laurent Koscielny continuing to struggle with an Achilles problem, Wenger will certainly know the importance of signing a central defender.
It remains to be seen whether the Arsenal manager deems signing someone like Carvalho, who can play in the centre of the defence and defensive midfield makes more sense than bringing in two different players for those two positions.
