Remember Luiz Adriano? The Brazilian sensation who scored 9 Champions League goals last season. Well, according to his current manager, Adriano is up for sale for as little as £5.5million.
According to Football Italia, Shaktar Donetsk have told Liverpool and Arsenal that they can sign the Brazilian for a fee of £5.5million.
Liverpool and Arsenal have been linked with big money moves for high-profile strikers like Carlos Bacca and Gonzalo Higuain.
According to Sevilla, Bacca will not leave for anything less than £21million while Napoli have stamped a £67million asking fee on Gonzalo Higuain.
Why the desperation to sell Luiz Adriano at £5.5million?
According to ESPN, Shakhtar were negotiating with the Dubai-based club Al-Ahli for Adriano’s transfer. However, the 28-year old striker has refused to move to Dubai and now threatens to leave the club in January for free.
Amid the chaos, Shakhtar Donetsk manager Mircea Lucescu came out in public and revealed Luiz Adriano’s asking fee.
Lucescu told Calciomercato.com: “The lad(Adriano) did not accept the proposal from the United Arab Emirates, one that was very advantageous for us.
“It’s a pity, as we want to sell him now and cannot afford to lose him on a free transfer in January.”
Is he worth the gamble?
Adriano caught everyone’s attention last season when he netted 9 goals and managed 1 assist during the UEFA Champions League campaign for the Ukrainian side.
Adriano is already a full-international player and has an uncanny eye for the goal. At £5.5million he is definitely a very handy back-up to have for the highly priced targets Liverpool and Arsenal have at their disposal right now.