Arsenal line up shock hitman swap
Sources have revealed that Arsenal could be considering a shock player plus cash swap move using current bench warmer Marouane Chamakh to try and land highly rated Porto front man Vieira de Souza.
The striker, who can also play on the wing is most commonly known as Hulk and only recently signed an extension to 2016 with a buy out clause of €100m. Whilst clauses of this type are very rarely adhered to it would take quite a lot of cash to tempt Porto into selling but the one thing Arsenal do have in their favour is that Porto are a selling club.
Not only did they allow their manager Andre Villas-Boas to leave for Chelsea after receiving a very generous fee from the Stamford Bridge side but they also eventually sold Falcao, practically weeks after he signed a new extension.
Hulk has scored almost 40 league goals for the club since joining in 2008 although he has made just under 80 league appearances proving a ratio of one goal every other game for the Portuguese giants.
A swap deal however will have certain issues as the player is currently also owned by a third party. Although Porto do own 85% of the prolific goalscorer it would be somewhat of a complicated deal to offer cash and a player for someone who is owned by numerous parties.
The clause however is something that not many would take notice of and it would appear much more likely that a straight cash offer of £35m would be closer to the real deal. By offering Chamakh in exchange may take some of the edge off the deal but Wenger would still be looking to pay around at least £20m.
Chamakh has not had the best of times since arriving last season and it is believed that Arsenal are still looking for another proven goalscorer to take some of the weight off the shoulders of Robin van Persie.
