Deal off? Arsenal suffer huge blow in pursuit of £78m target

Arsenal and Juventus target Gonzalo Higuain ‘has not said’ that he wants to leave Napoli, according to the club’s head of communications.

The 28-year-old has been heavily linked with a move to the north London side in recent weeks and on Saturday afternoon, reports emerged from Napoli’s official radio station – Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli, that Arsenal had taken pole position in the race to sign Higuain and were willing to offer a huge cash sum alongside Olivier Giroud.

It’s believed that if the Naples-based side do sell Higuain, it’s likely that they would prefer to send him off to a club elsewhere in the world rather than to direct rivals, putting Arsenal in a good position.

However, Nicola Lombardo – Napoli’s head of communications, has revealed that the club are expecting Higuain to report for pre-season training in little over a weeks time.

“Gonzalo never said he wanted to leave.

“Juve have never asked for him and [President] Aurelio De Laurentiis does not want to sell him.

“We are talking about rumours that are fuelled by the press, who write story upon story. But he will be here in Dimaro to start pre-season on July 25.”

This seems like a bit of a cross-communication, with it reported previously that Higuain had ‘informally’ asked to leave, so it’s unlikely that the ‘head of communications’ would have heard about the conversation.

What we’re likely to see in the next couple of weeks is talk that Higuain is close to joining Arsenal and talk that he’s to stay at Napoli, it’s one that will need a close eye kept on.