Arsenal have already tabled an offer of £13.5 million for Torino’s Bruno Peres but Toro News claim the Italian club are demanding around £17m for the 26-year-old.

Arsene Wenger is believed to be in desperate need of defensive cover after Per Mertesacker was ruled out for up to five months with a knee injury.

Peres, who generally operates as a right-back, made 31 top flight appearances for Torino last season, scoring three goals and assisting seven in the process.

Manchester City and Barcelona have also shown interest in the Brazilian, who still has four years left to run on his current deal.

Arsenal scouts watched the player in action during Torino’s pre-season friendly draw with Benfica on Wednesday.

And they were certainly impressed with what they saw as the Gunners have now reportedly made their interest concrete with an official bid.

Wenger has already sealed the signings of Rob Holding, Granit Xhaka, and Takuma Asano this summer.

According to some scouting reports, Tores can play on both wings and can fill in at right-back as well as a wide midfielder. He doesn’t appear to be much of anything in the air and isn’t an amazing ball-winner, but is a skilled dribbler and creative outlet as he’s nabbed decent goals and assists in two years at Torino.

In short, Peres could be exactly the kind of player that Arsenal would want to sign. For starters, his dribbling and technical skills are excellent, averaging an astonishing 3.3 dribbles per game which are coupled with excellent crossing ability, averaging 1.2 crosses per game.

Peres certainly has skills going forward, which is incredibly important to offer support to the wingers.

But the Brazilian sometimes struggles to hold onto the ball, which can be a somewhat important skill to have when you have a tendency to marauder forward and attempt to create chances in the other team’s final third.