France and Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud has fuelled speculation that Jamie Vardy is on his way to the club by saying he has heard the Leicester City striker is keen to move.
“I have been told that Jamie wants to join us and it’s very good news for us,” the striker told Sky Sports after scoring twice in France’s 3-0 friendly win against Scotland on Saturday.
British media reported on Friday that Arsenal, runners-up to champions Leicester last season, had triggered a buy-out clause in Vardy’s contract with a bid of around £20 million (Dh106.6m).
There was no immediate comment from Thai-owned Leicester, although Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper quoted manager Claudio Ranieri confirming Arsenal had made a bid.
ESPN quoted a source close to Arsenal as saying Vardy was due to undergo a medical on Sunday.
“I am happy with competition. We have always had fantastic strikers at Arsenal and I want the best for this club. Hopefully he is going to help us win this title,” said Giroud.
“The boss (Arsene Wenger) wanted to sign at least one or two strikers, so I expected a top striker and I think it will benefit the club and hopefully he is going to score a lot of goals like he did at Leicester.”
Vardy, 29, is due to travel to France on Monday with the England squad for the Euro 2016 finals starting on Friday.
He scored 24 Premier League goals last season as Leicester won the top-flight crown for the first time in their history, and was chosen as Player of the Year by the Football Writers' Association.
Arsenal have not won the league since 2004 and finished second this season, 10 points behind Leicester.
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'Ashkal'
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
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From Conquest to Deportation
Jeronim Perovic, Hurst
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last-16, second leg:
Real Madrid 1 (Asensio 70'), Ajax 4 (Ziyech 7', Neres 18', Tadic 62', Schone 72')
Ajax win 5-3 on aggregate
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
SPECS
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Zombieland: Double Tap
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Stars: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone
Four out of five stars
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The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Kill%20
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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