Transfer news - Portugal star Renato Sanches responds to Arsenal star Gabriel's plea to join club

ByCoral Barry

Published 30/06/2021 at 11:49 GMT

Gabriel Magalhaes' efforts to convince Renato Sanches to join Arsenal appear to be bearing fruit after the Portugal star replied to his transfer pleas. Gabriel comment on an Instagram post from Sanches asking him to come to Arsenal and the attacker has now replied. “I’m [waiting] for your invitation," he wrote back.

Renato Sanches has responded to Gabriel Magalhaes’ urgings to join Arsenal by saying he’s waiting for the ‘invitation’.

The Lille star has been linked with a summer move this summer with Mikel Arteta eager to revamp his midfield options.

Arsenal defender Gabriel stoked the transfer flames by sending a message directly to Sanches on Instagram telling him: “Come to Arsenal”.

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Now Sanches has responded by saying: “I’m [waiting] for your invitation”.

Arsenal fans will be eager to snap up Sanches, who has rebuilt his reputation after an dismal spell at Swansea City.

Sanches struggled to adjust to the Premier League and was quickly shipped back to Bayern Munich before making a permanent switch to Lille in 2019.

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That move has been a huge success for the 23-year-old, with Lille winning Ligue 1 ahead of Paris Saint-Germain last season.

Sanches also impressed for Portugal in their unsuccessful defence of their European Championship crown at Euro 2020.

With the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo on show for Portugal, Sanches still managed to catch fans' eye and helped his team reach the last 16 before being knocked out by Belgium.

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Sanches is now free to sort out his future and is expected to make a swift decision.

Arsenal boss Arteta looks set to lose Granit Xhaka this summer with the midfielder closing in on a transfer to Roma.

Xhaka has been a regular under Arteta and Arsenal are eager to line up a replacement – which could be Sanches.

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AC Milan have also been credited with an interest in Sanches and Lille are hopeful of bringing in around £26 million for the attacker.

Sanches still has two years left on his current deal with the French champions and Lille will be confident they can name their price for the Portugal international.

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