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Unai Emery urges Arsenal to complete £20million signing of Barcelona star Denis Suarez
ARSENAL manager Unai Emery is urging the board to fund a deal for Barcelona midfielder Denis Suarez this month, according to reports.
The Gunners have been courting Suarez closely as it emerged Barcelona are happy to offload the 25-year-old.
It is understood the Catalan club want £20m for their man, who has only made two La Liga appearances this term.
Emery worked with Suarez during his time at Sevilla, hence his surety on meeting Barcelona’s valuation.
The player also wants the move, but a fee and personal terms are the hurdles not yet overcome.
[Suarez was] a left or right winger for Sevilla when he was with me
The Evening Standard are now reporting that Emery is urging Arsenal director of football Raul Sanllehi to secure Suarez before the winter transfer window closes on January 31.
Barcelona will ostensibly only consider a loan deal if Arsenal pay £20m now to make the switch permanent this summer, which seems counterintuitive.
After beating Blackpool 3-0 in the FA Cup on Saturday, Emery expressed his desire to sign a centre-back and a player “at left or right wing” this January.
Suarez, who dons the No 6 shirt at Barcelona, is widely considered a central midfielder, but Emery said he was “playing as a left or right winger for Sevilla when he was with me".
In the one season Suarez spent under Emery, Suarez won the Europa League but did not come off the bench for the final.
His arrival would come as a surprise following the comments of Sanllehi earlier in the season, however.
Speaking to BBC Sport in October, the director of football said: “I’m not a strong believer of the winter window.
“Normally it’s used for emergency cases when things are not going the way you planned in the summer window.”