Arsenal & Tottenham have both made offers for £26m Porto striker Radamel Falcao

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Arsenal and Tottenham have tabled offers for Porto's £26m-rated forward Radamel Falcao, his agent has claimed.

The Colombian striker has enjoyed his most prolific season in European football, helping the club to the treble, and his agent has confirmed that the 25-year-old's performances have attracted attention from the two north London clubs.

Claudio Mossio of Sivori and Asociados, the company that represents the striker, told goal.com: "Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are the two clubs that are keen to sign him, and have already tabled an offer for Falcao."

The striker, who has a buy-out clause of €30m (£26m), has also courted attention from clubs from Serie A, but due to a lack of EU passport, a move to Italy is unlikely to materialise at this stage.

Mossio continued: 
"He is 25-years-old, but he still has plenty of room for improvement. The problem with a transfer to Italy is that he does not have a EU passport. He has a contract for two more years with Porto and has a buy-out clause of €30m.

"The club that matches that clause has a good chance of signing him. Porto want to open contract talks and offer him a new and improved deal to insert a higher minimum fee release clause."

Mossio added that the chances of a move to Italy would increase if the Italian Football Federation were to allow its clubs to sign an extra player from outside the EU, but conceded that a move to Spain or England is more likely.

He said: "The chances of a move to Italy increase if that would happen. However, the Spanish and English clubs are sitting in pole position. Inter already have [Giampaolo] Pazzini as striker, while Juventus have [Alessandro] Matri. He would be a good addition to Roma."

Falcao struck a record 17 goals in the Europa League in 2010-11 as Porto enjoyed a memorable campaign under the tutelage of coach Andre Villas-Boas.

Since joining the club from River Plate in the summer of 2009, the striker has won the Portuguese league title, two Portuguese cups, two Supercups and the Europa League.


Speaking exclusively to goal.com last year, Falcao's father, Radamel Garcia, confirmed that his son is interested in playing in England and has already started to learn the language.

“All his life he has wanted to play in English football," he said.

“A footballer always wants to go to the best team. It depends on the possibilities. He will listen to the best offer and see what suits him best.

"He also finds the Italian and Spanish leagues attractive. It depends on the club. But he hopes it’s in English football."

He added: "He speaks some English. He’s been learning it for five or six years.

"In Portugal he has English classes every afternoon. He’s preparing for the possibility of going to England.

“He watches English football on TV a lot. He watches all the matches. He likes Wayne Rooney a lot and liked Thierry Henry when he was there."

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