Wenger’s £35m Arsenal war-chest: Llorente or Fellaini first?

All eyes will be on Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger in January, not so much because he needs another striker, but because he has the money to buy one.

A very public rendering of the finances at the Emirates has now left the Gunners’ fans well aware that Wenger has a transfer fund of more than £35million.

Wenger himself has admitted that he needs a second striker – especially given Olivier Giroud has not quite hit the back of the net with enough regularity to make Robin Van Persie’s departure a distant memory.

Athletic Bilbao’s Fernando Llorente has always been a potential Wenger target, fitting in with the kind of play that Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta bring to the team now.

However, closer to home in the premier league is a striker that could be the perfect answer to fill the Van Persie hole.

Marouanne Fellaini at Everton seems far from content to continue playing there.

The Belgium midfielder and the Goodison Park boss David Moyes went through great pains to stub out a crisis after Fellaini was believed to have tweeted his desire to move.

Fellaini then tweeted a denial and

took to Facebook in a bid to set the record straight. 

Moyes is believed to have the 24-year-old the club’s best-paid player on around £75,000 a week and handed him a new deal to 2016. 

Fellaini joined Everton in a £15 million move from Standard Liege in 2008. 

He has scored 22 goals in 130 appearances for the Merseyside club. 

His form this season has been excellent and while he is currently out injured, if Everton do not sense a top four finish, Fellaini will look for a club that can bring him Europe and a title. 

Arsenal may well be that club given Wenger’s need for a a tough attacking-minded player like Fellaini – comfortable in the air and with the ball at his feet.