Bayer Leverkusen’s stance on selling Moussa Diaby to Arsenal in January window

Arsenal’s hopes of landing Moussa Diaby this month look very remote with Bayer Leverkusen extremely reluctant to lose the winger in the middle of the season.

The Gunners are desperate to bring in a new attacker to provide cover and competition in their bid to win the Premier League title, but they missed out on long-time target .

swooped in at the last minute and agreed to pay Shakhtar Donetsk’s £88million asking price in full, also offering more realistic and achievable add-ons.

Arsenal are wasting no time in moving on from the disappointment of missing out on Mudryk, however, and are already exploring alternative forward targets.

The north Londoners have been linked with a move for wantaway Brighton star Leandro Trossard in recent days – who is thought to be available for around £25m – while Orlando City’s Facundo Torres is on their radar too.

Arsenal are also reportedly , who has had another impressive season for Leverkusen in which he has netted six times and laid on three assists in 15 league outings.

are reporting that the Gunners have now made ‘initial contact’ with the Bundesliga side to discuss a potential deal this month, though are likely to find talks even more difficult than dealing with Shakhtar.

Unlike the Ukrainian side, who were open to letting Mudryk leave if their valuation was met, Leverkusen have no intention of selling Diaby mid-season.

Although the 23-year-old has had a good individual season, the team have lost more games than they have won this year and are currently just four points above the drop.

Given their potentially precarious position in the Bundesliga table, they cannot afford to lose their leading scorer, while they also face a testing Europa League play-off tie against Monaco.

Diaby had suitors in the summer and Leverkusen quoted interested clubs €100m (£88m), a price tag which will only have been reinforced by Mudryk’s move to Chelsea.

Although Arsenal have funds available for reinforcements, they cannot stump up that much cash – with around £60m the maximum they could go to for Mudryk – and may therefore need to explore cheaper, more available targets instead.

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