Arsenal may have been boosted in their chase of Napoli midfielder Fabian Ruiz amid claims there will be no contract renewal with the Italian club.
That’s according to Tuttomercatoweb, who claim that Ruiz will not be signing an extension to his current contract.
Ruiz’s deal expires in the summer of 2023 and it now seems pretty clear that he won’t be staying with Napoli any longer than that.
This of course puts Napoli in a difficult position; do they sell this summer whilst they can still get decent value for Ruiz, or simply keep him and let him leave for nothing in just over a year.
Arsenal will be hoping it’s the former having attempted to push themselves to the front of the queue for Ruiz’s signature.
The Mirror report that Arsenal have already started meetings with Ruiz’s representatives to try and thrash out a summer deal.
Mikel Arteta allegedly feels Ruiz is perfect for the Arsenal project and wants to bring his fellow Spaniard to North London.
You can absolutely see the cultured midfielder partnering Thomas Partey in the Arsenal midfield, with Granit Xhaka’s future still unclear.
The problem for Arsenal is that TMW’s report claims that Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United also fancy signing Ruiz.
Ruiz allegedly only earns £40,000-a-week at Napoli and has never been given a pay rise in almost four years at the club.
Arsenal would surely be able to double or even triple those wages, which may just be why Ruiz isn’t interested in staying at Napoli.
For now, Ruiz is focusing on winning the Serie A title. His last-gasp winner against Lazio on Sunday took Napoli top of the table, and this could be some way to say goodbye.
Arsenal will be watching very closely, believing they can sign the midfielder branded ‘extraordinary’ due to his displays in Italy.
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