Gonzalo Higuain stalls on completing Napoli move to give Arsenal chance to bid ... - Mirror.co.uk

Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain has stalled on a move to Napoli - in the hope Arsenal come back in.

** See Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo in action.... against Bournemouth! **

Higuain asked for 48 hours to think over whether to join Napoli after Rafa Benitez's new club had a £30million bid accepted for the Argentine World Cup star.

It is believed Higuain would still prefer moving to Arsenal but his potential switch to the Emirates went cold after Real Madrid suddenly "moved the goalposts" and increased the price from £24m to £32m.

Arsenal had agreed personal terms with Higuain but are not willing to increase on their valuation and have now made Liverpool striker Luis Suarez their No.1 target.

But if Real Madrid can sell Higuain - and the Spanish club have yet to confirm they have accepted Napoli's bid as reported in the Italian media - then it may give them the cash to launch a full scale bid for Suarez.

Suarez would prefer to go to Real Madrid and if Higuain ends up going to Napoli it could leave Arsenal missing out on their top three targets as Wayne Rooney is set for a move to Chelsea.

** Watch our FootballSpy special - Suarez or Higuain: Who will be Arsenal's new star striker?  **

It leaves Arsenal sweating on pulling off a big-name striker with their fans getting nervous despite the club publicly insisting they will spend big this summer.

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis is in Asia to co-ordinate with Arsene Wenger and they remain confident on landing targets this summer.

Meanwhile, Pepe Reina's agent, Manuel Garcia Quilon, is due to fly to Napoli on Monday to complete a one-year loan move - but the Liverpool keeper is still set to join Barcelona 12 months later.

Reina will go to Napoli on a one-year loan with the Italians meeting his £110,000-a-week wages with Liverpool set to make new signing Simon Mignolet their new No.1.

But Barcelona have proposed a £6m deal next summer with the offer of a three-year deal to replace Victor Valdes who is set to leave the Nou Camp when his contract expires in 2014.