Arsenal have received a boost in acquiring one Borussia Dortmund player, while another could yet be missed out on after Manchester City started to shown an interest.
Robert Lewandowski's expected departure from Dortmund in the summer moved ever closer after Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp made an €18 million (£15.3 million, $23.5 million) offer for Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo, according to Marca, while Manchester City have joined the hunt for Mario Gotze.
Lewandowski will only have one year remaining on his contract at the end of the season, and has been linked with a move away with Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Arsenal the reported suitors for the Polish international's signature.
Dortmund have pretty much given up their fight to keep Lewandowski beyond next season, and prefer selling the prolific striker in the summer rather than risk losing him for a free in 2014.
Bayern are thought to be the frontrunners for the 24-year-old, with some reports in Germany suggesting a pre-contract agreement was already in place.
However, Dortmund prefer to sell their player to a club outside Germany, which is where Manchester United and Arsenal come in.
United have been constantly linked with a move for Lewandowski, despite Sir Alex Ferguson's side being already filled with strikers. The English Premier League champions-elect have also reportedly agreed on a deal with Atletico Madrid for Radamel Falcao, according to the same newspaper Marca.
With only a year remaining on his contract, Lewandowski will be relatively cheap, and if Arsene Wenger can convince the Pole to join the Emirates rather than the Allianz or Old Trafford, it will be seen as a major coup - because the major thing missing from Arsenal's attacking lineup is a proven goalscorer, and they don't come much better than Lewandowski at the moment.
Meanwhile, it seems like Arsenal will have to fight it out with City for the signature of Gotze, with the Premier League champions stepping up their interest in the 20-year-old playmaker.
According to Kicker, City's director of football Txiki Begiristain flew out to Germany to watch Dortmund play Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in March, while also making the club's interest known to Gotze's agent Volker Struth.
Dortmund are reluctant to sell their star player in the summer, and it seems like any interested club will have to match the German international's buyout clause of €40 million (£34 million, $52 million), inserted when he signed a new contract until 2016.
Arsenal have never spent that kind of money on a single player before, and even if Wenger has plenty of money available this summer, it is unlikely that he will be ready to invest that amount of cash on Gotze, a player he missed out on in 2011 after Dortmund refused to sell.
City, on the other hand do have the resources to spend and with their underwhelming performances this season, the club's hierarchy will be desperate to reinforce the squad ahead of next season.
