Arsenal and Man City battle it out over £25m Marco Reus

As Manchester City and Arsenal look ahead to their Premier League showdown on Saturday the Daily Star claims that the two giants will soon be locked in battle for Germany winger Marco Reus.

Described by the paper a £25m "golden boy", Reus has been linked with Arsenal for months but the Star says City are lining up a big money bid in January to "mark the end of their Uefa-imposed financial restrictions". The Sky Blues' spending was restricted by Uefa earlier in the year after failing to adhere to Financial Fair Play rules but it's believed those restrictions will be lifted next year after they stayed within their spending cap of £49.9m in the summer window.

And that means Arsenal can expect stiff competition for Reus with the Borussia Dortmund winger top of City's transfer wish list. The Star says that the 25-year-old has a buy-out clause in his contract which can be activated by any offer above £25m from next summer, and the paper says "City's transfer-fixer Txiki Begiristain is already working on the deal" with manager Manuel Pellegrini confident he'll get his man.

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Meanwhile Caughtoffside reports that Arsenal are eying up a January move for Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti. Last month the Gunners were linked with his PSG teammate Adrien Rabiot, but that move failed to materialise and now it seems Arsene Wenger is looking at Verratti as a long-term replacement for the increasingly injury-prone Mikel Arteta. The 21-year-old Verratti, described by Caughtoffside as "one of the most highly regarded prospects in Italian football", arrived in the French capital two seasons ago and has reportedly attracted interest in recent months from Real Madrid and Manchester United.

The Daily Mail says that Manchester United's "lavish spending has not finished" with Louis van Gaal assured of another £50m to spend in January's transfer window. Having already blown £150m over the summer, the Mail claims that United are now targeting Arturo Vidal, Mats Hummels and Sami Khedira. At the same time Spanish playmaker Juan Mata will be sold in January "to accommodate a second wave of rebuilding" at the behest of Van Gaal. Mata was bought by David Moyes in January, arriving from Chelsea in a £37m deal, but United would reportedly be willing to sell the 26-year-old for around £20m.