Arsenal appear to be dropping out of the race for Fluminense midfielder André as they’re more focused on signing Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa

That’s according to UOL, who say Arsenal have turned their attention Unai Emery’s midfielder despite having ‘closely watched’  André for some time.

Arsenal are one of them and a report yesterday made it clear that they have been scouting the player for some time ahead of a possible move. 

UOL back that up and say he has been watched closely by those in charge at the Emirates, with them even sending representatives to the Copa Libertadores final on Saturday to watch over him.

But they’re not pushing ahead with a move and instead ‘work with other options’ to strengthen their midfielder in the coming months.

Arsenal are particularly keen on a different Brazilian, Douglas Luiz at Aston Villa, and appear to be focusing their efforts on him rather than André moving forwards.

Why that is the case isn’t made clear given he is arguably a harder signing to get done as Aston Villa will almost certainly ask for far more than the €30-35m that Fluminense want for André but that appears to be a decision which has been made, potentially leaving the Fluminense man to head elsewhere