ARSENAL are reportedly considering trying to re-sign PSV Eindhoven striker Donyell Malen for £48million as a long-term replacement for captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
French outlet Le 10 Sport claim the Gunners are set to rival AC Milan for the 21-year-old, who has netted 11 goals in just 14 Eredivisie games.
The Dutchman spent two years at Arsenal between 2015 and 2017 but failed to break into the first team under Arsene Wenger.
The Frenchman flogged Malen for just £500,000 – but the tricky attacker has gone from strength to strength since.
He scored seven goals in 24 games for Arsenal’s Under-23s after being plucked from PSV’s rivals Ajax, but has since remodelled himself after moving back to his native Holland.
Malen opened up his Arsenal exit last year, revealing he left the Gunners to get more first-team football – and not because he was too fat.
He told De Telegraaf: “That I was sent away from Arsenal is certainly not true.
“I still had a contract for a year and Arsenal even wanted to extend that.
“I don’t play football for the money. I never did that. Otherwise I would not have left England.
“There are stories that I was not fit when I came to Arsenal. But I have never been too fat, that really is a nonsense story.
“It may sound silly, but I may have learned the most from the young boys such as Reiss Nelson.
“They were used to a completely different kind of football, really that English style.”
Mikel Arteta has been drawing up a list of potential strikers this summer as he may be forced into selling talisman Aubameyang.
Skipper Aubameyang, 30, has less than 16 months left on his current Emirates deal and is being linked with Spanish giants Barcelona.
The Gunners are desperate to keep their 20-goal top scorer and Arteta hopes to bring forward contract talks in an attempt to persuade him to pen fresh terms.
He said: “For me it is very easy. I want to keep him under any circumstances.
“We will have to talk at some stage before the end of the season and see his intentions and where we’re sitting in that moment.
“I think it is difficult to predict that context right now.”
