Arsenal close in on former United striker

According to reports in Spanish publication Sport, Atletico Madrid hitman Diego Forlan could be leaving the Vicente Calderon at the end of the season with both La Liga rivals Barcelona and Premier League side Arsenal leading the chase for his signature. The 29-year-old, who played in England for Manchester United before transferring to Villarreal in 2004, has been in inspired form once again this term netting an amazing 27 goals in 29 matches a feat which sees him one shy of Barca’s Samuel Eto’o in the Pichichi race. Already linked with a £10m move to Manchester City it appears his tremendous prowess in front of goal has not gone unnoticed.

It has long been suspected that Los Colchoneros would have to offload numerous key players, such as Sergio Aguero and captain Maxi Rodriguez, this coming summer in order to free up much needed funds to rebuild their squad, but this is the first time that the 29-year-old Forlan has been included in the list of potential departures.

While Barcelona’s attack line of Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi and the aforementioned Eto’o looks formidable, it appears that things are far from harmonious amongst the Arsenal attack line. Arsene Wenger has already admitted that he is weighing up his options ahead of a summer reshuffle and with Emmanuel Adebayor continuing to flirt with AC Milan he could be the likely candidate to be sacrificed should a move for Forlan progress.