Arsenal still keen on Alonso

ARSENAL have not given up hope of signing Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso but the clubs remain at loggerheads over a fee for the Spaniard.

Alonso is valued at £18m (€22m) by the Merseysiders, around £6m (€7.6m) more than Arsenal are prepared to pay. The impasse may yet be resolved by the player himself, who is ready to ask for a move after he learned that manager Rafael Benitez was prepared to sell him to fund a potential deal for Aston Villa’s Gareth Barry.

A move to the Emirates stadium would be smoothed by an official transfer request, with Liverpool unwilling to keep an unhappy player. Alonso started Saturday’s game at Sunderland on the bench, with Benitez claiming the player was suffering from a dead leg, although he did set up his side’s winning goal.