Arteta ‘dream’ £90m ‘galactico’ signing at Arsenal is now ‘favourite to leave’ Barcelona this summer

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been boosted by reports that his ‘dream’ signing is likely to leave Barcelona in the summer transfer market.

The Gunners are in a great position to be able to convince top players to join Arteta’s side in the summer because of their terrific season to date.

Arsenal are currently eight points clear of second-placed Manchester City with nine matches to play, although Pep Guardiola’s men do have a game in hand.

Spanish publication Sport (via Sport Witness) recently claimed that Arteta ‘dreams of signing’ Fati for Arsenal and that a ‘galatico’ like the Spaniard would be perfect for the north Londoners.

And now director of Sport, Lluis Mascaro, insists that Fati now looks likely to leave this summer as Barcelona look to balance their books with the 20-year-old ‘favourite’ of all their high-profile players to be sold.

Mascaro said: “I think that Ansu Fati is always more outside of Barcelona than inside.

“It is clear that Barca this summer will have to make some operation with a footballer in their squad to bring in money. Fati is the ‘favourite’ to leave.

“His goal at the weekend served to vindicate himself and put himself on the market. It demonstrated that he is a good footballer who is not having a good season.”

Manchester United have also been linked with Fati with one report insisting that .

That came after Fati’s father told his son to leave the Camp Nou with his dad ‘angry’ at the way the forward had been treated by Barcelona boss Xavi.

“Ansu does not want to leave Barcelona but I want to see him succeed,” Bori Fati told Spanish radio station Cope.

“I won’t go to the stadium anymore, I’m very angry with the club. In a month we will meet with Jorge Mendes, for sure.

“It bothers me that Ansu plays so little. We’re talking about a player that is a Spain international and came from La Masia. He deserves much more than that.

“Mateu Alemany tells me that Ansu is part of the club’s heritage. As a father, I have told Ansu that it is better for him to leave. But Ansu has told me that he does not agree with me on this. He wants to stay.

“If it was up to me, I would leave Barcelona tomorrow. I told Ansu that if the situation didn’t change, we would have to leave, but he tells me that I’m wrong.”