Arsenal Chase £44m Strike Trio as Arsene Wenger Looks to Re-Shuffle Attacking Options

Emirates Stadium boss keen to spend this summer.
 

Udinese striker Luis Muriel is the latest striker to be linked with Arsenal, joining the likes of Lukas Podolski and Edin Dzeko to be linked with a move to The Emirates in the summer.

Muriel who is currently on loan to Italian side Lecce is also being monitored by Inter and AC Milan as well as Spanish giants Barcelona.

Reports are emerging that Arsene Wenger has had the Colombian watched several times this year and is currently weighing up a potential move when the transfer window opens in the summer.

Chelsea to Launch £83.6m Bid for Real Madrid Stars Cristiano Ronaldo & Gonzalo Higuain

Stamford Bridge side plan huge Bernabeu coup.

Chelsea sizing up £80m summer move for Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuaín.

Chelsea are considering whether to launch an incredible €100 million (£83.6 million) bid to sign Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuaín as part of a major overhaul of the squad this summer.

We can’t play it again

BOLTON will hold talks with the FA in the next 48 hours before deciding whether to quit this season's FA Cup.

The club could feel it is too much to ask players to return to White Hart Lane so soon after witnessing Fabrice Muamba's harrowing fight for life.

Saturday's quarter-final with Tottenham was abandoned after the midfielder's collapse and a rematch would usually be played next Tuesday or Wednesday.

The entire club and especially the playing staff have been badly affected after Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest.

Some players have already talked privately about not wanting to go back so quickly to the north London ground.

But senior figures at the Reebok see it as an opportunity to win the tie for Muamba — and will gauge feelings before making a decision.

The match was called off after medical teams worked to resuscitate the player on the pitch.

He was then taken to London Chest Hospital.

Bolton's game at Aston Villa tomorrow has been postponed.

Boss Owen Coyle said: "The players wouldn't be in any fit state to play. Football pales into insignificance at this time."

Muamba remained in critical condition in hospital last night.

Jan wants Gunners move

AJAX star Jan Vertonghen has told Arsene Wenger he is ready to join Arsenal this summer.

Gunners manager Wenger is keen on the £10million-rated centre-back, who plays alongside Gunners ace Thomas Vermaelen for Belgium.

Vertonghen, 24, said: "Arsenal are a magnificent club. I have instructed my agent carefully. He knows which clubs I want to join and Arsenal are one of them.

"If a club of their calibre can reach agreement with Ajax then I will gladly go over.

"I went to watch them against Milan, together with my Ajax team-mate Siem de Jong."

Wolves 0 Man Utd 5

THERE is nothing like a game against Wolves to boost the confidence and goal difference.

United exited Europe with their tail between their legs last Thursday, having been given a football lesson by Spain's seventh-placed club Athletic Bilbao.

But that tail is wagging again after mauling the Wolves, who, frankly, have gone to the dogs.

This was a third successive defeat under caretaker boss Terry Connor and the third time in five games they have conceded five.

Yet there has to be a little bit of sympathy for Connor, who has been thrust into the spotlight following the axing of Mick McCarthy.

What the former assistant boss did not need was to be let down by his brainless defender Ronald Zubar, whose two reckless tackles before the break earned him a red card.

Paul Scholes coming out of retirement has had much to do with United's resurgent league form, which has seen them win eight and draw one since the veteran midfielder put the red shirt back on.

Hope is fading fast for Wolves and chairman Steve Morgan is cutting a forlorn figure. The sacking of McCarthy has not had the galvanising effect he had hoped for.

But credit to the home fans, who have resorted to gallows humour as their side sit rock bottom of the Prem table.

They never shut up all afternoon and amusingly baited United by singing 'How **** must you be, you've only scored five'.

Then they were urging their side forward to the cries of 'We want one' as the scoreline ticked upwards.

Strangely, Wolves did not do too badly in the early stages. Steven Fletcher really should have scored when Matt Jarvis picked him out in the box, only for the striker to glance his header wide.

United took their foot off the gas and Wolves almost got the goal their fans craved when the previously unemployed David de Gea saved sub Michael Kightly's strike and also pushed away another Fletcher header.

Home keeper Wayne Hennessey ensured United would not add to their tally, after being left one-on-one with Welbeck and blocking with his outstretched foot.

The message from Connor was 'Do not write us off'.

Forgive me, Terry. I have.

Chelsea 5 Leicester 2

HIS worryingly-good impression of Andriy Shevchenko has stopped. Finally.
 

Fernando Torres scored his first goal for 151 days — spanning 25hrs 41mins of game time for Chelsea — before delivering an equally rare sight in west London. A beaming smile.

The Spaniard delivered his finest performance in a Chelsea shirt with two goals, two assists and in general, was a total pain in the backside for Leicester's defence.

For that, Roman Abramovich must thank Roberto Di Matteo.

Blues' Italian caretaker boss has steered them into the quarter-finals of the Champions League and now the semi-finals of the FA Cup — to face either Spurs or Bolton.

Yet his biggest achievement of a four-game reign is to make Torres believe in himself.

The striker then took little time before plunging the knife into the back of ex-boss Andre Villas-Boas, claiming it was nice to once again have the backing of a manager.

Di Matteo is a cocky individual and may not be a massive favourite at the club's training ground.

Equally though, he has massaged a few bruised egos within the squad while repairing the shredded confidence of this one-time goal machine.

Unfortunately for Torres, 28 tomorrow, he will not come across lumbering centre-backs like Sol Bamba and Wes Morgan every week.

Albeit against second-tier opposition, Torres looked a real menace and his finishing was excellent.

Many believe Chelsea have recreated history by signing a player who will rank alongside £30.8million Ukranian striker Shevchenko as a total flop. Yet £50m Torres is better than that.

On Wednesday evening, we will see whether Torres can once again bully the best when his team travel to Manchester City.

Suddenly, though, Chelsea may fancy their chances, providing Torres can continue to show such enormous belief.

This entertaining game, which included four goals in the last 13 minutes, would not have made comfortable viewing for City's defenders, even though they have conceded just six goals this term.

At one stage, it looked as though Torres would suffer another day of frustration, despite playing well and having set up Salomon Kalou for the second goal.

Yet after 66 minutes and 54 seconds, the goal finally came. Like a London bus, goal No 2 came on 84 minutes and 54 seconds.

Before then, Chelsea defender Gary Cahill put Chelsea into the lead after rising above Bamba to head past Kasper Schmeichel. It was Cahill's first goal since joining from Bolton but in a subdued celebration, he pulled up his shirt to reveal a 'Pray for Muamba' message.

A comfortable win looked certain when Torres picked up the ball 10 yards inside his own box, tore past Ritchie Wellens and cantered towards Schemichel's goal before squaring for Kalou.

Torres sent a simple header straight at Schmeichel before being denied with a smart save. Finally, though, he scored for the first time since he faced Genk on October 19 to end his nightmare.

Ironically, it was former Liverpool team-mate Raul Meireles who was the provider, with Torres taking one touch before sending a delicate side-foot into the corner of the net.

Hardly surprisingly, Torres' strike was met by a massive roar from the Chelsea fans, whose support throughout for their much-maligned player had been impressive.

The home players flocked to congratulate Torres with Branislav Ivanovic running the length of the pitch for a hug.

Leicester, of course, know all about wasting money, as their Thai owners have blown £53m on the club. In return, they have got a mid-table Championship team. While his fee remains a ludicrous amount of money, maybe after the most torrid of spells Torres will come good in a blue shirt.

Maybe, Di Matteo will be remembered as the man who succeeded where Carlo Ancelotti and Villas-Boas failed and get the best out of this undoubted talent.

If he can continue this type of form and re-establish himself as one of the most menacing strikers in the world, then Chelsea's season could end with a silver pot.

Arsenal Plot Move to Sign £25m-Rated Germany Playmaker

It appears as though Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger could be raiding German football for yet another player after the Frenchman was linked with a move for Borussia Dortmund midfielder Mario Gotze. 
 

Wenger signed German international defender Per Mertesacker at the start of the season and it seems a deal for Cologne forward Lukas Podolski has also been finalised.

Now it seems Wenger has turned his attention to Gotze who according to a report in the Daily Mail is valued at £25million by the Bundesliga club.

Wenger attempted to sign the midfielder last summer and had a £20million offer turned down by Dortmund who were keen to hang on to one of their brightest young stars.

The paper also believes that Wenger will hope that Mertesacker and Podolski will help persuade Gotze to chose a move to the Emirates rather than one of the other big European clubs.

Gotze is contracted to Dortmund to the summer of 2014 so it will take a huge offer to prize the attacking midfielder away from the club.

However, Arsenal may be able to raise some of the money by moving on players on the fringe of the first team. Andrey Arshavin is currently on-loan and could move in the summer, while Nicklas Bendtner, Carlos Vela and Denilson, all on-loan, could also be sold in the summer.

The Gunners are now just one point behind Tottenham and seem almost certain to finish in the top four and achieve Champions League football once again, something that would be important in persuading Gotze to come to the Emirates.