With Arsene Wenger saying the club will buy a marquee player if one becomes available, Arsenal are being linked with several big names, with the latest one being Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets.
Arsenal are reportedly in the market for a defensive midfielder, to act as competition for Francis Coquelin, who made his mark in the second half of last season.
Wenger decided against making a move for Morgan Schneiderlin, who eventually signed for Manchester United, while the manager is reportedly not ready to match Sporting Lisbon's asking price for William Carvalho, with that move in doubt anyway owing to an injury sustained by the defensive midfielder.
The Bender brothers – Lars and Sven – have also been linked as has Grzegorz Krychowiak of Sevilla, but this Busquets one is certainly the top of the bunch.
Busquets has been playing for the Barcelona first team ever since making the grade from the youth sides, with the midfielder making the screening role his own. However, according to Spanish newspaper Sport, Wenger has marked out Busquets as his No.1 target for the defensive midfielder position and has reportedly asked the Arsenal board to go all out to get the signing done.
There are only two problems to this, however, and two problems most vital to completing a transfer. One, Barcelona are unlikely to let go of Busquets, one of their key players over the last several years, and two, Busquets will surely not want to leave the club that just won the treble, unless Arsenal can offer the midfielder a much, much higher salary, which is, again, unlikely.
Indeed, when asked about his future at Barcelona, Busquets, earlier this month, stressed he wants to stay at the Camp Nou for the foreseeable future, with his current contract running all the way to 2019.
"No, I will not go I'm where I want to be, which is in the best club in the world," Busquets said when asked if he would consider a move away if he receives a tempting offer.
Having said that, however, Busquets has previously admitted he would love to play in the Premier League, but to convince the Spain international, who is still only 27, to leave the Camp Nou, when Barcelona look primed to dominate the La Liga and Europe again, will be next to impossible.
Arsenal, interestingly, have been linked with another screening midfielder from Barcelona in Sergi Samper, with the youngster looking to move away considering his chances of first-team action are pretty slim with Busquets in the way.
The 20-year-old has a release clause of around £8.4million, which should be well within Wenger's reach, if he sees the young midfielder as perfect competition for Coquelin and Mikel Arteta.
