Arsenal to make January bid for Adrian Lopez & Fernando Llorente?

Arsene Wenger will open his chequebook to land Robin van Persie’s long-term successor when the transfer window re-opens.

The Arsenal manager has instructed his global network of scouts to start identifying realistic forward targets the club can go for in January. And Wenger, together with his backroom team, will hold a series of technical meetings where those players identified will be discussed and formalised into a shortlist.

Wenger has in the region of £35million to splash at the turn of the year and has made a new world-class centre-forward his top priority.Early contenders are Atletico Madrid striker Adrian Lopez, a player who has already been scouted intensively by Arsenal spies.

Athletic Bilbao forward Fernando Llorente is also highly-rated by Wenger. The Spain international is out of contract at the end of the season meaning he could be available at a cut-price fee.

Another option is Fiorentina forward Stevan Jovetic who has been on Arsenal’s radar for over 12 months, while Palermo’s Abel Hernandez has also been watched.
The Gunners hope their January spending will be supplemented by a mini-clearout. Arsenal will continue with their ongoing mission to sell the club’s unwanted stars.

The likes of Nicklas Bendtner, Carlos Vela, Manuel Almunia, Denilson and Park Chu-young all left on a temporary or permanent basis during the summer.

But Arsenal are still keen to offload Marouane Chamakh, Sebastien Squillaci, Johan Djourou and Andrey Arshavin.