Arsenal are pushing to complete a deal for Esteban Granero in January after opening talks with Real Madrid to buy the midfielder, Goal.com has learned.
An Arsenal delegation led by transfer negotiator Richard Law was in Madrid last week to begin negotiations with Real chiefs.
Granero, a former Real youth-team player who returned to the club last year following a three-year spell at Getafe, has been earmarked by Arsene Wenger as a New Year signing.
The Arsenal manager is without Jack Wilshere for at least another four months and believes attacking midfielder Granero can help take some of the creative burden off the likes of Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey.
However, Goal.com understands that Arsenal face a fight to convince the 24-year-old to move to the Premier League rather than stay in Spain, where he has also reportedly attracted interest from big-spending Malaga.
Real value Granero at around £6million but are hopeful that a bidding war could raise his price beyond that.
The Spanish club told Arsenal they would prefer to keep Granero until the end of the season even though he has featured only intermittently during Jose Mourinhoâs reign at the Bernabeu.
The Spain Under-21 international played in 32 matches for Real last season, mainly as a substitute, and has been sidelined even further in the current campaign, playing just seven minutes for the first team in two substitute appearances.
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A good addition? How do you rate him?
An Arsenal delegation led by transfer negotiator Richard Law was in Madrid last week to begin negotiations with Real chiefs.
Granero, a former Real youth-team player who returned to the club last year following a three-year spell at Getafe, has been earmarked by Arsene Wenger as a New Year signing.
The Arsenal manager is without Jack Wilshere for at least another four months and believes attacking midfielder Granero can help take some of the creative burden off the likes of Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey.
However, Goal.com understands that Arsenal face a fight to convince the 24-year-old to move to the Premier League rather than stay in Spain, where he has also reportedly attracted interest from big-spending Malaga.
Real value Granero at around £6million but are hopeful that a bidding war could raise his price beyond that.
The Spanish club told Arsenal they would prefer to keep Granero until the end of the season even though he has featured only intermittently during Jose Mourinhoâs reign at the Bernabeu.
The Spain Under-21 international played in 32 matches for Real last season, mainly as a substitute, and has been sidelined even further in the current campaign, playing just seven minutes for the first team in two substitute appearances.
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A good addition? How do you rate him?
