Arsenal working hard with agent to get Arthur loan deal over the line

ARSENAL have held further talks with Arthur’s agent as they bid to tie up a loan deal for the Juventus midfielder.

The Gunners have identified the Brazilian as the midfielder they want to sign this month, but Juventus have so far been unwilling to sanction a loan deal. Further talks took place yesterday, however, and possible solutions, such as an 18-month loan, have been discussed.

Arsenal are light on numbers at the moment, particularly in midfield, which is why Sunday’s north London derby against Tottenham was postponed. The club has come under fire over that postponement, but Mikel Arteta says the backlash has unified Arsenal ahead of tonight’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Liverpool.

“I think we are going to see that in the stadium,” he said. “We have to defend ourselves and the best way to defend ourselves is to demonstrate who we are and that’s what we have to do.

“The best way to do it is when we are on that pitch.

“We will defend our club with teeth and nails. We are not going to get anybody damaging our name, or trying to lie about things that haven’t occurred. We will make mistakes, and we will put our hands up, but we will defend our club in a really strong way.”

Arsenal’s fitness crisis has eased ahead of tonight’s second leg against Liverpool, which is evenly balanced after the 0-0 draw at Anfield last week.

Martin Odegaard is available again after recovering from Covid-19 and Bukayo Saka has shaken off a knock, too.

Arsenal will be without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, though, who is back from the Africa Cup of Nations but seeing specialists after a health scare.

The forward has been frozen out by Arteta and was stripped of the captaincy last month.

Aubameyang has not played for Arsenal since then and the club would be open to letting him leave this month if the right offer came in.

Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr have made a bid and are understood to be willing to take Aubameyang, who earns £250,000 a week, on loan for the rest of the season before signing him permanently for around £6.5million.

The FA, meanwhile, are looking into a yellow card received by an Arsenal player this season amid concerns about suspicious betting patterns.

The incident is said to have occurred this season during a Premier League

game, but the player implicated has not been named.

A report by The Athletic has detailed bookmakers flagging “an unusual amount of money” going on the yellow card, in a potential case of spot betting.

A statement from the FA said: “We are aware of the matter in question and are looking into it.”

Instances of spot betting in English football have been rare. Former Lincoln defender Bradley Wood is currently serving a six-year ban for deliberately getting booked in two FA Cup games in 2017.

In cricket, Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir, MuhammadAsif and Salman Butt were found guilty of spot-fixing in 2011. The trio were subsequently banned from the game and received prison sentences for defrauding bookmakers.

Meanwhile, Gunners defender Pablo Mari has joined Udinese on loan until the end of the season.