HECTOR BELLERIN wants Arsenal to terminate his contract and allow him to leave for nothing.
The 27-year-old Spanish international does not figure in Mikel Arteta’s plans but still has 12 months remaining on his £110,000-a-week deal.
He is keen to return to Real Betis after his successful season on loan with his boyhood club last season.
And former club Barcelona are also monitoring his situation after failing to secure a deal with Chelsea for right-back Cesar Azpilicueta.
But both Spanish clubs are struggling to balance their books and insist they cannot afford to pay a fee for Bellerin.
And with just two weeks of the transfer window remaining, Arsenal’s longest-serving current player fears he could be stuck in limbo.
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So now his representatives are in talks with Arsenal in a bid to break the deadlock.
And they are hoping that the prospect of wiping £5.7million off their annual wage bill will be enough to convince the club to let him go.
Bellerin, who joined Arsenal from Barcelona’s academy in 2011, has seen how Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac have all been paid to leave the Emirates in the past two years.
But he would be prepared to walk away without a penny if it helps him to secure a return to Spain.
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Arsenal, though, are already smarting after being forced to slash their asking price to get rid of Lucas Torreira, Bernd Leno and Pablo Mari as part of Arteta’s summer clear-out.
And at the moment they are still holding out for some kind of transfer fee, even if it is nowhere near the £18million they were demanding for the player last summer.
Yet both Betis and Barcelona are prepared to wait until transfer deadline day on September 1, convinced that Arsenal will eventually allow Bellerin to leave as a free agent rather than continuing to pay him without ever playing him.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
