Arsenal are looking to step up on their intention to secure Real Madrid attacker Alvaro Morata on loan after recently experiencing unexpected setbacks.

Everything seemed to fall into place for the Gunners, as far as their attacking third is concerned, weeks ago as Theo Walcott came back from his abdominal injury, reserve forward Nicklas Bendtner found his goalscoring form anew, and Lukas Podolski returned to first-team action after a four-month layoff.

Unfortunately, the celebration of Walcott's awaited comeback was cut short after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury against Tottenham on Saturday that puts him on the sidelines for, at least, 6 months, while Bendtner's twisted his ankle right after scoring a crucial goal against Cardiff City on New Year's day.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger sees a season-long loan deal involving Real's forward Morata to be the perfect solution for his immediate needs.

The officials at the Bernabeu have already made it known to the Gunners that the 21-year-old will not be wearing any other club uniform just yet, but the north London side remains persistent and is keeping the communication lines open with Real, anticipating favourable developments.

Other strikers like Bayern Munich's Mario Mandzukic has been rumoured to be on the Gunners' target list, but, should their long-term targets be unavailable, a temporary move would serve them best.

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