According to a report in Spanish newspaper Marca on Friday, Arsenal has submitted a bid to capture the services of Illarramendi and bring him to the Emirates stadium in summer.
It is thought that Real Madrid who paid £24million to sign the defensive midfielder from Real Sociedad will try to redeem the most of it.
But Arsenal are not alone in the race to sign the 24 year old as Athletic Bilbao has also made a bid of €25m but Illarra is not interested to join Bilbao, since he already turned them down as a youngster, reports Marca.
After the arrival of Brazilian Lucas Silva at Bernabeu it is sure that Illarramendi’s services are no more required by the Spanish giant.
After moving from Real Sociedad in 2013 Illarra hasn’t seen much of the first team action and has only 11 appearances for Madrid so far, majority of which came from bench.
After several speculations regarding the Spaniard’s move away from Madrid, Illarra rejected them completely and vowed to remain at Real Madrid. But if Arsenal will offer an amount meeting Madrid’s need the 24 year old will have nothing to say in the matter.