AC Milan already preparing for Brahim Diaz’s potential £25m Arsenal move

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Arsenal’s pursuit of Brahim Diaz has AC Milan lining up potential replacements with Empoli starlet Tommasso Baldanzi an option to succeed the Premier League-linked Spanish schemer. 

That is according to Gazzetta dello Sport; the uncertainty surrounding Brahim Diaz’s future very much ongoing as the season enters it’s final few weeks. 

Milan have a £25 million option-to-buy clause in the Real Madrid loanee’s contract. The Rossoneri are attempting to barter a lower fee, however, Gazzetta adding that the reigning Serie A champions are only willing to pay a maximum of £16 million. 

It seems unlikely Real Madrid would be happy to write off as much as £8 million. Especially with the likes of Arsenal emerging as an alternative destination for a velvet-footed forward who recently scored a Champions League winner against the Gunners’ North London neighbours Tottenham Hotspur, while pushing Antonio Conte ever closer to the brink. 

Arsenal like former Manchester City starlet Brahim Diaz

Arsenal, Tuttosport say, are willing to meet Real Madrid’s £25 million asking price. Former Manchester City youngster Diaz struggled for regular game time at the Santiago Bernabau. But that will not concern Mikel Arteta. You could, after all, say the same about one Martin Odegaard. 

Milan, meanwhile, are leaving nothing to chance. Empoli’s Tommasso Baldanzi is a potential successor for one-time Spain U21 international Diaz. And the 20-year-old has made no secret about the fact that ‘as a child, I was a Rossoneri fan’. 

Should Diaz join Arsenal, meanwhile, he will become the latest former Manchester City man in Arteta’s Emirates Stadium dressing room. Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko arrived last summer. Arsenal, meanwhile, are also big fans of Southampton’s Etihad export Romeo Lavia. 

“(Brahim Diaz) can win matches,” former Man City reserve Edward Francis once told Goal.

“In the Premier League, we can compare him with Eden Hazard. But he is a bit like (Lionel) Messi in the way he dribbles. It’s good to have a player like him in the team. He is also a bit like David Silva.”