Arsenal are reportedly deemed frontrunners to sign Barcelona’s Arda Turan after Turkish champions Besiktas ended their interest in the attacker.
The 30-year-old has struggled to establish himself as a regular at Camp Nou in recent seasons, and this has restricted him to just 23 La Liga starts.
Turan has attracted plenty of transfer interest in recent weeks with a report from Haberturk previously suggesting that the Gunners are on the cusp of signing Turan.
However, no deal has materialised to date but TalkSPORT suggests that the Gunners still have the advantage with Besiktas having pulled out of the chase.
Besiktas had expressed an interest in pursuing the former Turkey international, but their efforts were in vain after they baulked at Barca’s £26m asking price.
As a result, the Gunners are leading the pursuit once more with Serie A club Inter Milan yet to make a transfer attempt for the Istanbul-born star.
Arsenal are likely to lose at least nine players in the current transfer window and Turan would be a decent addition to the squad ahead of the 2017/18 season.
The former Atleti man is said to have already bought a house in the English capital, and the Gunners will nevertheless have to match Barcelona’s valuation in order to lure Turan from Camp Nou.
Despite his limited starts last term, Turan managed 11 goals for the Spanish giants, who ended their season with a Copa del Rey final triumph over Alaves.
Arsenal have found no breakthrough in negotiations for most of their summer targets with Sead Kolasinac being the only arrival on a free transfer from Schalke 04.
