Liverpool’s previous transfer activity - and rumoured player interest - has apparently influenced Arsenal for one piece of business this summer.
Jurgen Klopp and new sporting director Julian Ward have acted fast in the market in recent months when looking to acquire new signings. It was the case with Darwin Nunez, with Ward jetting out to Portugal to negotiate with Benfica.
Arsenal are set to complete their first signing of the summer, with Fabio Vieira arriving from Porto. The Gunners are set to pay £34million for the young midfielder, who is a former team-mate of Reds star Luis Diaz.
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Liverpool only signed Diaz in January from the Portuguese club, in a £49m deal. It’s this piece of business, according to a report, that led to Arsenal moving to sign Vieira.
The Reds themselves have been linked with Vieira in recent weeks. According to The Times , once Arsenal learnt of Liverpool being in the running they sped up the process of signing Vieira.
When Liverpool signed Diaz, they beat Tottenham Hotspur to his signature. The Reds had initially planned to sign the Colombia international, but brought forward their plan when they heard of Spurs’ interest.
This fresh report claims that Arsenal did not want a repeat of what happened to Spurs with them, and moved quickly to sign Vieira.
The 22-year-old scored seven goals and provided 16 assists in all competitions for Porto last term.
