Arsenal eye Monza striker

Arsenal are monitoring Portuguese forward Gustavo Varela, who plays for AC Monza, after his impressive start to the season, having scored 8 goals in 7 matches, according to "CaughtOffside" citing "La Gazzetta dello Sport".

Fariella, aged 21, has scored 6 goals in 6 matches in Serie A, along with 2 goals in the Coppa Italia, after joining AC Monza from SL Benfica last summer for just 2 million euros. He also scored 2 goals and provided another in the victory over Cagliari by a four-goal haul.

The Portuguese forward is attracting interest from Arsenal, SSC Napoli, and SL Benfica, his former club. He is under contract with AC Monza until 2030 and Benfica does not have a buy-back clause, but they retain the right to match any future offer and receive 20% of his sale profits.

The report suggests that Arsenal may prefer to continue monitoring Varela throughout the season before making a move to sign him, in order to avoid his market value rising to over £70 million in the future.