Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta is already looking at potential signings next summer with a talented Portuguese striker on radar

Arsenal are among several clubs tracking young Monza and Portugal striker Gustavo Varela. The 21-year-old joined the Serie A newcomers from Benfica this past summer for just €2.5million (£2.1million) after impressing for Benfica's B team.

Varela managed 15 goals last season and despite the step up to senior football, is already over halfway to that tally for Monza having bagged eight times in his first seven appearances in Italy. Even with such a small sample size, interest from major European clubs has already emerged.

Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport are reporting that the Gunners are one of the teams tracking the forward with Napoli and 'all of Serie A’s top sides keeping tabs'.

Former club Benfica may stop all of those teams, including Arsenal, from signing Varela though as they have a buyback clause worth €9.5million (£8million), as per Portuguese outlet Record. That was inserted for this exact scenario as he made just one appearance for Benfica's senior team.

Their report adds that it can be activated at the end of the season, but even if Benfica opt against doing so, they could still impact his future by making Monza demand more due to the 20% sell-on clause in his contract.

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Varela is yet to make his senior debut for Portugal but has scored 10 goals in 28 games across all youth levels. He has scored braces in Monza wins over Cagliari and Sassuolo alongside goals in defeats to Inter Milan and Udinese.

He also managed a double in the Italian Cup but missed the next round and one Serie A game with an adductor injury. That is the only fitness problem he has suffered of note in his footballing career thus far which could be a factor in Arsenal's thinking.

That is because Mikel Arteta has dealt with a number of attacking injuries already this season with Bukayo Saka the latest to suffer a potentially serious problem.

Speaking on his early withdrawal in the 2-2 Champions League draw against Bayern Munich, Arteta said: "Unfortunately. It doesn't look good at all, but we have to wait and see."

Arsenal strengthened their attack in the summer with the signing of Christos Tzolis but that area of the pitch arguably got weaker after the sales of Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli. The Greece international is also out injured but is close to returning.

Varela has only played as a centre-forward which could mean the end for Viktor Gyokeres or Kai Havertz at Emirates Stadium if he does make the move.

The former would be the more likely to depart but showed in the Allianz that he may still have a role to play with a clever assist for Declan Rice which helped Arsenal salvage a point.