TheSportsCampus

English Premier League Club Arsenal have been dealt a blow in their attempts to sign 17 year old Real Madrid starlet Jose Rodriguez. Rodriguez is a central midfielder tipped to have a big future ahead of him by his current manager Jose Mourinho. Real Madrid are reportedly looking to tie the young talent down to a long term deal when he turns 18 in December, a deal that is presumed to have a big release clause in it.

Arsenal have been scouting the talent for a while now and even offered a 5 year deal for the player in 2011 but Rodriguez subsequently rejected the offer. The release clause is reported to be around £9.6 million and it will be interesting to see if Arsene Wenger, who prides himself on finding and securing young talent, matches that valuation to prise Jose Rodriguez away from Madrid.

The 17 year old has already made 4 appearances for the Real Madrid first team, a testament to the immense potential of the player.

Arsenal too have some promising young talent in their ranks in the form of Jernade Meade, Thomas Eisfeld and Serge Gnabry who have come on leaps and bounds over the last year and have made their first team debuts this season. It remains to be seen of Jose Rodriguez joins Arsenal's pool of young talent or decides to stay at Real Madrid competing for a regular place in their first team.

One would believe that Wenger, despite his reputation for developing talent, would find it hard to convince Rodriguez to leave his home and move to England.