Arsenal Reyes the stakes in £20m deal

ARSENAL have upped the stakes in the Premiership title race with a bank-busting swoop for one of Europe’s brightest young talents, 20-year-old Spanish striker Jose Antonio Reyes.

Reyes will arrive at Highbury later this week to undergo a medical, with a view to completing a four-and-a-half-year deal that may be worth up to £20million after terms were agreed with Sevilla.

The one minor problem is that he could arrive with a one-match suspension hanging over him if the ban is transferred from Spain to England.

Then again, as his new manager, Arsene Wenger, joked: "That just makes me think he has all the qualities to be an Arsenal player!"

Reyes admitted the move had taken place so quickly that it "seems like a film" as Arsenal made clear their intention not to be muscled out of the transfer market by Manchester United or Chelsea.

Having studiously saved their cash for more than two years since the signings of Francis Jeffers and Giovanni van Bronckhorst for a total around £15million, Wenger has now finally made his move.

The deal is expected to cost Arsenal about £9million up front but, with a complicated bonus system based on appearances, goals and team success, the entire package could rise close to £20million.

Wenger was initially lining up Reyes for a summer move to Highbury, but injuries to Wiltord and Jeremie Aliadiere, and Kanu's departure for the African Nations Cup, have stretched resources so that a strikeforce aged just 36 - Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, 17, and David Bentley, 19 will start tonight's Carling Cup semi-final second leg at Middlesbrough. The Arsenal boss said: "We have a game based on movement, technique and pace, and he has all of that.

"He can play everywhere, up front, on the left flank or even on the right, like any good offensive player. He can be adaptable and replace everybody, so we'll use him wherever we feel that we need him.

"If we buy a player, it's because we can afford him. When we buy young players, we make [the price conditional] on achievements, success and all that."

Wenger insisted that there will be no more signings either this month or in the summer. "If we buy now, then we don't buy in the summer. If we sign him, we will not buy anybody else," he stated, with his £20million budget now effectively exhausted.

Reyes, who has won three caps for Spain and scored 21 goals in 84 Primera Liga appearances for Sevilla, is, perhaps crucially, eligible to play in the Champions League for Arsenal.

"I'm the happiest man and the saddest man in the world at the same time," he admitted.

"I'm leaving the best team in Spain to join the best team in England. There is no doubt this is a huge step forward in my career, but I am not forgetting I am leaving the club I love with all of my heart and it has all happened so quickly that it seems like a film."

Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido has revealed the "out of this world" offer by Arsenal.

"Barcelona made an offer for Reyes on Sunday and it was only slightly over half of what Arsenal offered.

"We have made a pact of confidentiality on the price and we cannot say. But I can tell you that it is greater than any other offer. It's more than was paid by Bayern for Roy Makaay, more than Barcelona paid for Ronaldinho. It is even more than Real Madrid paid for David Beckham."

He admitted: "To have turned this down would have been negligent towards the interests of Sevilla," he said.