Juventus and Barcelona make formal approaches to Arsenal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Barcelona and Juventus have made formal approaches to sign Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on loan until the end of the season.

Telegraph Sport revealed earlier this week that the two clubs were among the teams interested in signing Aubameyang, who is in exile at Arsenal after being stripped of the captaincy by Mikel Arteta.

The two European giants are both understood to have now made official contact with Arsenal, although Aubameyang’s destination could hinge on the future of former Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata.

Morata, who is currently on loan from Atletico Madrid at Juventus, has been linked with a transfer to Barcelona this month and the Italian side are expected to push for Aubameyang’s signature if the Spaniard leaves.

If Morata stays at Juventus, as is seen to be more likely at this late stage of the transfer window, then Barcelona will turn their attention to Aubameyang.

Arsenal will not stand in the way of their former captain leaving the club on loan but will want his wages, worth up to £350,000 per week, to be covered.

There has also been interest in Aubameyang from clubs in Saudi Arabia, but the striker has made it clear that he still wants to play at the top level in Europe.

Aubameyang has not been included on Arsenal’s mid-season trip to Dubai as Arsenal attempt to offload him, and it remains to be seen how he will be treated if he cannot secure a move away.

The interest of Juventus in Aubameyang could help Arsenal in their attempts to sign Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo on loan from the Italian giants. The two clubs have been locked in talks over the midfielder, with a breakthrough appearing increasingly unlikely before next week’s deadline.

Barcelona’s interest in Aubameyang could also depend on the situation concerning Ousmane Dembele, who has been told to find another club if he does not renew his contract at the Nou Camp.

The Spanish side are also closing in on a deal for Wolves winger Adama Traore, and have already signed Ferran Torres from Manchester City this month.

If Aubameyang is to move to Juventus, he could play alongside former Arsenal target Dusan Vlahovic. Arsenal were strongly linked to Vlahovic, who has been in prolific form for Fiorentina, but the Serbian is instead moving to Juventus and arrived for his medical in Turin on Friday.

Arsenal needed this transfer window - so why haven't they signed anyone?

By Sam Dean

Earlier this month, Mikel Arteta’s description of Arsenal’s increasingly troubling striker problem was that it was a “really special situation”. Some of the club’s supporters, it is safe to say, would not phrase it quite so diplomatically. Alarm bells are ringing, within the club and on the outside, and as it stands there will be no solutions found in this month’s transfer window.

Arsenal’s “special situation” with their strikers is as follows: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been exiled, and the club want him out. Alexandre Lacazette has six months remaining on his contract and there has been no suggestion of him receiving a new deal. Eddie Nketiah is also a free agent as of this summer, and he has rejected Arsenal’s offers of a fresh contract.

The fourth striker in the first-team squad is Folarin Balogun, aged 20 and with two Premier League appearances (zero goals) to his name. Balogun has been loaned to Middlesbrough this month and will spend the rest of the season in the Championship.

As it stands, barring an unexpected return to favour for Aubameyang, Balogun will be Arsenal’s only available senior striker as of July 1. Even if Aubameyang does come back into the fold, Arteta will still need more bodies in this most crucial of positions.

The issue is evidently a pressing one for Edu, Arsenal’s technical director. The Brazilian is the man tasked with completing the deals and strengthening the team. So far this month he has been unable to do so, with the squad now looking weaker and thinner than it did in December. Balogun, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Pablo Mari have left on loan, while Sead Kolasinac and Calum Chambers have departed for good. No one has come in, although United States goalkeeper Matt Turner will join in the summer.

To be clear, Arteta absolutely wanted new recruits this month. “It is what we planned,” he said last week, before his trip to see owner Stan Kroenke in the United States. “The market is difficult. It is complicated. We knew that, but it's a lot to manage and we have to make the right decisions with players that we believe are going to really help us and try to bring in ones that can take us to the next level.”

It is notoriously difficult to find value for money in the January window, and it is also hard to recruit high-calibre centre-forwards at the moment. Arsenal need to revamp their frontline but players of this quality do not come cheap. Nor do other clubs want to sell their star strikers midway through a campaign.

There have been options, but none of them have worked out yet. Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic was always leaning towards Juventus. Real Sociedad’s Alexander Isak would be eye-wateringly expensive. Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a long-term target but there is surely no way that Everton could even consider selling him now, given their predicament.

Real Madrid’s Luka Jovic has been suggested, although sources in Spain and Serbia have been quick to play down links. Tammy Abraham, a target before he left Chelsea for Roma, is now impressing in Italy. Arsenal are admirers of Jonathan David, the Lille striker, but he is unlikely to move before the summer. Lautaro Martínez, another pre-season target, recently signed a new deal at Internazionale.

One by one, the names are being scratched off the list. The feeling within Arsenal is that they are increasingly unlikely to complete any major incoming business before the deadline. That situation could yet change, though, and there is certainly no shortage of agents and intermediaries looking to thrust their clients towards Edu. The final days of the window usually offer opportunities of some sort, but the clock is ticking.

In midfield, too, Arsenal have so far been unable to strengthen as planned. Talks with Juventus over a loan for Arthur Melo have slowed, and that deal now looks unlikely without a significant breakthrough. The likes of Ruben Neves and Youri Tielemans are more likely to be summer targets. Bruno Guimarães, of Lyon, is heading to Newcastle United and Aston Villa want Douglas Luiz to sign a new contract.

The fact that Arsenal have allowed so many players to leave this month, without bringing any in, is a reflection of the fact that they have just the Premier League to play for. There is no European football to worry about, no cup competitions to test their squad depth. Arteta does not need a deep squad now, but he will next season.

Arsenal are currently two points off fourth place, and they are not alone in being unable to strengthen their attack by this stage of the window. Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United are both in the same position, at the time of writing. Arsenal’s striker position is the most perilous and complicated, though. If they cannot address it now, they will have to do so in the summer. By then, the race for the top four will be over.