Edu eyeing Valencia as talks hit deadlock

Edu looks certain to signal his departure from Arsenal by signing a pre-contract agreement to play for Valencia next season.

The Brazilian, who is available on a Bosman free transfer at the end of the season, has spurned two offers from Arsenal which fell short of his demands for a new £50,000-per-week contract.

With club chairman Peter Hill-Wood making it clear Arsenal will not be held to ransom by a player making excessive wage demands, talks are now in deadlock.

Arsenal would rather sell the midfielder in the January transfer window, even for a cutdown price of £1million, than lose him for nothing in June. But they may not be given the choice if he decides to sit out his time at Highbury for another six months.

Edu's possible departure and the fitness of compatriot Gilberto Silva will determine whether Arsene Wenger moves into the transfer market in January.

Gilberto has been out since the middle of September with a back problem. He has been allowed three months' rest back home in Brazil and will have scans and consult specialists when he returns next week.

If he needs surgery, he is likely to be out for the season and Wenger's hand will be forced. Although the likes of 20-year-old Mathieu Flamini and Francesc Fabregas, 17, have been revelations this season, Wenger can ill afford to be without the proven experience of players such as the Brazilian pair in the second half of the season.