Vinicius Junior is set to hold contract talks with Real Madrid this week, with Arsenal continuing to monitor the Brazilian forward's situation. Vinicius has only one year left on his deal at the Bernabeu, and the Premier League champions are considering a move before the new season begins.
All options remain open ahead of discussions between Vinicius' advisors and Real Madrid president Florentino Perez. According to Daily Mail Sport, the salary on offer is acceptable to Vinicius, but the two sides have yet to agree on a potential signing-on fee.
A move to the Premier League would give the competition another global superstar. The Premier League is the richest of Europe's top five leagues, but attackers such as Lamine Yamal, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele currently play elsewhere.
"We expect to have movements in the next few weeks, obviously," said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta after his side's pre-season match against Girona.
"We want to get better like anybody else, and you can see the transfer market and our opponents... We won't sit still and we are very ambitious with what we are doing," Arteta said. "The margins are very small. Because we want to get better and the level is going to increase. We need to increase the competition internally. We need to make sure we identify the things that we don't have in the team."
Arsenal's transfer plans
Arsenal are working on a deal to sign midfielder Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle and have already paid £34million for Club Brugge winger Christos Tzolis. Arteta said last week that Arsenal hope to make signings that give the club a "different dimension."
His pledge to fans came after Arsenal ended a 22-year wait to be crowned Premier League champions last season, while also finishing as runners-up in the Champions League.
"A lot is happening. From ownership to the board, the sporting director and myself, we know that we want to take this club to a different level," Arteta said.
Arteta's ambitions
"That is going to require a better squad, better individuals. We have identified where we have opportunities to grow and to improve and to evolve our game and what is going to be needed to achieve that," he said. "Hopefully very soon we can start to put things in a very concrete way."
"Excellence has to be our standard and this has to drive to attack the future. The way we behave daily with more and more determination and ambition because we've shown that we've got it," Arteta said. "Now we have to show that we belong to this level and we want to increase and take this football club to a different dimension."
