Arsenal ready £30m raid for Italy international as Chelsea could miss out on Brazilian wonderkid target

A lot of the transfer speculation surrounding league leaders Arsenal has focused on their desire to get their hands on a new midfielder – but they’re busy in other areas too, and Sport Witness have unearthed reports that link them to a Serie A defender who’s been making quite the name for himself with Torino in recent seasons.

Alessandro Buongiorno, who made his Italy debut earlier this year, is believed to be valued at around €35m (£30.3m) by the Turin outfit, although it seems that Mikel Arteta isn’t the only manager taking a look at him – both AC Milan and Inter are reported to be circling too.

Apparently Torino are keen to use all that interest to spark a three-way bidding war, so it’s possible that the suggested price spirals a bit… especially given that his current contract runs until 2028. Chairman Urbano Cairo will know that a sale is inevitable at some stage, however.

The 3AM Verdict: A tall defender with good aerial ability, solid marking and good judgement in the tackle, he isn’t the kind of centre-half who will run the ball halfway down the field when he wins it back but is technically solid enough to pass muster for a club like Arsenal, and the price tag doesn’t seem too outrageous… We’d say this looks like a pretty decent deal all round. Whether Buongiorno wants to go to London or Milan seems to be the question.

Chelsea face stiff competition for Corinthians kid

One of the issues with having a transfer shortlist that consists of every single faintly interesting player in the world is that you’ll find plenty of other clubs are chasing people you’re after – and Chelsea are dealing with just such a situation right now, with Paris Saint-Germain entering the race for Gabriel Moscardo.

That’s according to Caught Offside, anyway, who report that the pecunious Parisians have become the favourites to secure the 18-year-old Corinthians midfielder’s signature. The article also ponders what a midfield consisting of Moscardo and fellow teen sensation Warren Zaïre-Emery might look like – depressingly young and in minimal need of moisturiser is probably the answer to that.

The 3AM Verdict: Brazilian youngster Moscardo is a holding midfielder who a lot of people think could be a regular member of his national side before long – he seems remarkably mature and his reading of the game and work ethic are second to none. Whether he can develop the kind of physical game that can be necessary in the toughest leagues remains to be seen, but Chelsea would be getting a very exciting young player if they do go in for him – they can add him to the big pile with all the others.

Leeds let-down on his way out of Elland Road

Finally for today’s rumour round-up, a bit of Championship news. Leeds United spent about £13m on Barcelona’s Junior Firpo just over a year ago but it that move has not, to put it politely, worked out very well, with Daniel Farke seeing fit to play him in just two league games so far this season.

That could see Firpo heading back to his old club, according to Foot Mercato – not Barcelona, of course, they can’t afford him, but Real Betis, where he made his name before he headed over to Catalonia. The Domimican wide-man made his name there back in the 2018/19 season and would no doubt be keen on a touching reunion with the one club where it’s really worked out for him so far.

The 3AM Verdict: It simply hasn’t worked out for Firpo over the past few seasons, and he has the feel of a player whose head has dropped lower and lower. Leeds fans will probably not be too sad to see the back of him, although they may be saddened by the fact that a loan deal is considerably more likely than a permanent one because of the finances involved…