Arsenal have apparently ‘checked’ on Thiago Alcantara at Bayern Munich with the club eyeing the midfielder who is up for sale.

With just one year left on his current Bayern Munich deal, the German champions are apparently keen to offload the 29-year-old this summer before losing him for free and Arsenal, along with Liverpool, are said to be interested in bringing him to the Premier League.

His price, however, at £23m, has put both sides off, Liverpool moreso than Arsenal according to reports. Thiago’s market value is around £43m.

Thiago was injured until recently. The player was suffering from a groin problem that kept him out of football after it returned post-lockdown, apart from 16 minutes against Bayer Leverkusen. Then he underwent surgery.

Thiago did, however, play in the Champions League semi-final against Lyon, featuring for 82 minutes in Bayern Munich’s 3-0 win.

Thiago, however, has an injury history that would warm the heart of many former Arsenal players.

Although he’s approaching 30, the signing of Thiago would still be something special if Mikel Arteta and co. could pull it off. Despite his injury problems, Thiago has still managed 39 appearances for Bayern Munich this season, scoring three and assisting two.

Since signing for the German champions for £22.5m in 2013 from Barcelona, Thiago has made 234 appearances for Bayern, scoring 31 and assisting 37.

Thiago has also won seven Bundesliga titles, four German cups, a FIFA Club World Cup, two UEFA Supercups, and three German Supercups.

His one Champions League winners’ medal came with Barcelona in the 10/11 season. Arsenal finished second in their group behind Shakhtar Donetsk that year.

Their reward was a Round of 16 tie against Barcelona, at the height of their power, and Arsenal’s 2-1 win over the Catalans was perhaps one of the greatest nights at the Emirates Stadium.

It was the night we saw that goal from ARSHAVVVIIIIIIIIIINNNN and dared to dream of the impossible.

It was not, however, enough to qualify for the next round. After a 3-1 defeat in the second leg, Arsenal went out to the eventual winners.

Even if we had won our group, Barcelona were always waiting for us. They beat Shakhtar 6-1 over two legs in the next round before dispatching Real Madrid 3-1 in the semi-final and Manchester United 3-1 in the final.

The teams that night at the Emirates were:

If Arsenal do want to buy Thiago nine-and-a-half years on from that night, however, they will have to unload a number of midfielders currently at the club including Lucas Torreria and Mohamed Elneny.