Unai Emery is unsure whether Marco Asensio’s injury will scupper Arsenal’s hopes of signing Dani Ceballos.
The Gunners have agreed a deal to sign 22-year-old midfielder Ceballos from Real Madrid on a season-long loan.
However, Asensio suffered a season-looking knee injury during the pre-season friendly between Arsenal and Real in Washington on Tuesday.
That has sparked concern among Gunners fans that Zinedine Zidane may now decide to keep fellow midfielder Ceballos at the Bernabeu.
“I don’t know,” said Emery, when asked if the Asensio injury meant the Ceballos deal could be off.
“Our target also was not to take injuries in that match, and they maybe have with Asensio.
“It [could be] bad news, for them and also for us. I don’t know if it can change something.”
Losing out on Ceballos would be a huge blow for Arsenal, who are struggling to get deals over the line this summer.
Emery has so far only landed Brazilian teenager Gabriel Martinelli.
Kieran Tierney has also been on the Arsenal manager’s radar but that looks unlikely now, with Celtic rejecting two bids for the full-back and the Gunners reluctant to go any higher than £25m.
Crystal Palace are also playing hardball over another of Emery’s top targets, Wilfried Zaha, with the Eagles slapping an £80m price tag on his head.
Former Palace manager Sam Allardyce has urged Arsenal to pay whatever it takes to land Zaha
He told talkSPORT: “Wilfried is in his prime and there’s not too many like him about.”
“He’s ready now and if he doesn’t go soon he never will.
“Arsenal are trying to mess around… pay the money before it’s too late!”
