Arsenal team news, transfer rumours: Ba, El Shaarawy, Flamini

Some Arsenal transfer news for fans to sink their teeth into first before we look ahead to tonight’s Premier League tie against struggling Reading, here are the three latest ‘big’ names being linked with a move to the Emirates.

Demba Ba, never two inches away from a Premier League transfer story, is almost certain to leave Newcastle in the January window, is dreaming of a move to Arsenal, according to today’s gossip sources.

Demba Ba has opened the door to a move to Arsenal by admitting they are a club that ‘makes you dream’.

Newcastle have stomached a tough run of late at having plummeted from Europa qualifying position to relegation territory, the landslide has said to have triggered Ba’s intentions to switch clubs with mentioning admirers Arsenal as a ‘club that makes you dream’.

The Senegalese star is yet to sign a contract extension and could leave for a cut-price £7.5m if Wenger were to do the sensible thing and add the man with eleven goals to his name to his portfolio of strikers.

Next up old foes AC Milan are playing hard ball over the potential transfer of striker Stephan El Shaarawy to the Premier League, stating the 20-year-old is worth more than Wenger can afford.

The French manager is a huge fan of Milan’s forward man proclaiming the Italian’s philosophy is in sync with Arsenal’s style of play and has not ruled out a move in January.

“El Shaarawy is a very mobile, very technical young player. His philosophy fits perfectly with mine,” Wenger said, “I love the way he plays.”

Valued at around 30 million euros El Shaarawy is this season’s Serie A top scorer taking over from the void left by Ibrahimovich, but critics doubt Wenger will bow to the high asking price when cost-effective alternatives such as Ba are at hand.

On the subject of AC Milan, dirty rumours are surfacing the former midfield generalissimo Mathieu Flamini is eager to re-join Arsenal on a full term basis as his days in Italian football are definitely numbered.

Flamini’s transfer to Milan is far from the success story the French star had hoped for, injury and poor form have kept Flamini from nailing down a starting place in Massimo Allegri’s side, he is poised to move now before his deal expires at the end of the season.

The chances of Wenger offering his former midfield star an escape route to the Premier League are slim given the Frenchman’s swift, unforeseen exit several years back and a move now is highly unlikely to match the returns of Henry and Campbell.

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