ARSENAL have seen a bid for Fiorentina centre-back Nikola Milenkovic rejected, according to reports.
The Gunners‘ back three of Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba impressed on Friday night as Mikel Arteta‘s men secured a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
Milenkovic is being linked with a move to the Emirates this summer
But Arsenal’s strength in depth at centre-half remains a little concerning given Rob Holding’s inconsistent performances at the Emirates.
According to Corriere dello Sport, Arteta attempted to address that issue by putting in an offer for Milenkovic.
But the man who is valued at around £18.5million saw the offer rejected by Fiorentina.
Juventus, Inter Milan and Sevilla also approached the Serie A side about signing the 24-year-old Serbian.
Fiorentina swatted away interest from all of them and are now keen to tie Milenkovic down to a new deal.
His current contract expires at the end of this season.
And the Gigliati are confident they can extend that deal to 2025 as they bid to keep hold of their promising talent.
It comes after Fiorentina also managed to hang onto him last summer when West Ham and Tottenham were both interested.
Meanwhile, despite missing out on Milenkovic, Arteta has insisted Arsenal will still try to sign more players this summer.
Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Matt Turner, Marquinhos and Fabio Vieira have all arrived already in the current window.
But following the win over Palace, Arteta was asked if there would be more signings.
To which the Spaniard told Sky Sports: “We are going to try. If we can do them, great. But now it’s work with the players we have, the focus should be with the players we have.
“You need the right balance because if you come short in terms of physicality in this game, you’re going to be exposed.
“The most important thing is to win the first match, to build confidence and momentum.
“Then you can talk about things we need to improve – there were quite a few today, to be honest.”
