The website’s Gunners correspondent says he has it on good authority from the Spanish international’s representative that a deal would be “very difficult” to complete ahead of the deadline at 11 pm:
De Tomas reportedly has a €70m (£58m) release clause in his contract so there is still a chance that Arsenal could deposit the funds at La Liga headquarters, just like they did with Thomas Partey in 2020.
However, other respected sources have suggested that the 27-year-old is not on the Gunners’ radar, despite reports in Spain claiming the contrary.
Wheatley says that technical director Edu is still working hard to bring in a striker, with a deal for Real Sociedad’s Alexander Isak not entirely ruled out, but it is widely assumed that Arsenal would have to pay €90m (£75m) to bring the Swedish international to the Emirates this month.
