Spending wisely to prevent an increase in the wage bill

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is having to boycott his plans to sign David Villa and instead focus on Athletico Madrid forward Adrian Lopez.

Although Villa was the main target to fear of how expensive the wages would be for the club has meant Wenger is having to resort to plan b and won’t be able to have his number one choice at the club.

Nevertheless Adrian Lopez is still a handy reserve choice to make as he has been an important player at the Vicente Calderon stadium for his sides push into second place of La Liga.

Obviously Lopez like the rest of the Athletico players are living in the shadows of the impressive Falcao, but at the same time Lopez has put in some good performances so far this season.

Lopez is known as the younger version of Villa and although he has a buyout clause of £15 million the wages per week are a lot cheaper than the £100,000 a week bill that would be needed to pay Villa for his services.

Lopez scored 19 goals last season for the Spanish side and he showed Wenger what he is capable of when scoring in the 1-0 over Celta Vigo last week.

Wenger does have a £50 million budget in January and therefore going for Adrian Lopez may be an option the Frenchman will take.

Daniel Clark

@DanClincs