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During this entire process, Luiz Gustavo has chosen, for the most part, to keep his mouth shut.
All of a sudden, links with Arsenal and Arsene Wenger turns Gustavo more gabby.
Speaking in Basel, Switzerland – where Gustavo, Dante and the rest of the Brazilian National Team will take on Xherdan Shaqiri Switzerland on Wednesday – the 26-year-old spoke on a possible move to North London.
"My contract with Bayern runs until 2015, but it is very important that I play first-team football to keep getting called up for the national team.
"I am in a delicate situation at Bayern, and this needs sorting out. I have personal and professional reasons to move. I have heard about the Arsenal interest. It’s a big club we’re talking about here, so of course I’d like to play for them.
"You have to earn a Brazil call-up every week, and one can’t simply think past glories will guarantee a place."There are still a couple of weeks before the transfer window, but I need to keep working. He [Guardiola] has not spoken to me specifically about my situation but personally and professionally there are questions I need to address."Arsenal play a very attractive brand of football and are in the Champions League. They also have a very clever manager in Arsene Wenger. Even when Bayern beat them in the last Champions League, you could see they are not pushovers."– Luiz Gustavo, ESPN FC
Wow. Talk about transparency. These quotes now add imminence to a transfer, a scenario that now looks inevitable.
Looking at the move itself, assuming the £17.2 million transfer fee Goal reported as confirmed between FC Bayern and Arsenal, it makes sense, going back to all the reasons that he mentioned. Plus, FC Bayern would technically make a profit, having bought the Brazilian international from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for €15 million.
The usual disclaimer to all this speculation applies: nothing is confirmed until either club does so themselves. That being said, the groundwork for a move seems apparent, so a confirmation could drop within the next 24 or 48 hours.