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Arsenal will step up their efforts to sign Xabi Alonso from Liverpool this week after Arsène Wenger’s team were outplayed by Fulham in the 1-0 defeat at Craven Cottage on Saturday. Alonso wants to leave Anfield after falling out with Rafael BenÍtez, but the Liverpool manager is holding out for £16 million for the 26-year-old Spain midfield player.

Arsenal’s opening offer of £10 million was turned down three weeks ago, but after such a lacklustre performance, Wenger knows that he has to make a significant move in the transfer market if Arsenal are to be challengers for the Barclays Premier League and Champions League.

Lassana Diarra, Mathieu Flamini, Alexander Hleb and Gilberto Silva have left the Emirates Stadium this year and Cesc Fàbregas’s hamstring injury forced Wenger to start with Denilson and Emmanuel Eboué in midfield against Fulham. “We lacked quality but when you lose a game it is not always a solution to buy,” Wenger said.

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Arsenal have been linked with four midfield players this summer – Gareth Barry, of Aston Villa, Marcos Senna, of Villarreal, Gökhan Inler, of Udinese, and Alonso – but the Liverpool midfield player, who was in Spain’s Euro 2008 squad with Fàbregas, is Wenger’s No 1 target.

“Alonso would be perfect,” Fàbregas said. “He is my friend and apart from that he is a great professional.”

Alonso’s relationship with BenÍtez became strained when he discovered at the end of last season that his manager wanted to replace him with Barry. Matters came to a head during an angry confrontation before Liverpool’s Champions League qualifying match away to Standard Liège this month. Alonso is adored by many Liverpool fans, but he failed to impress during the 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough at Anfield on Saturday.

Liverpool signed Alonso from Real Sociedad for £10.5 million four years ago and the Spanish club are set for a windfall if he leaves Anfield. Under the terms of Alonso’s transfer from Spain to Liverpool, Real Sociedad will receive about £5 million if Alonso is sold for less than £13 million and 20 per cent of the transfer fee if he leaves for more than £13 million.

Wenger has money to spend after a quiet summer in the transfer market. The Arsenal manager has spent about £18 million on Samir Nasri, Aaron Ramsey and Amaury Bischoff to boost his midfield options, but none of those players is the finished article.