Branislav Ivanovic is believed to be on the radar of Arsenal, but, it doesn’t seem that the Gunners would succeed in securing the services of the defender.

The transfer fee that Arsenal has planned to offer Chelsea is somewhere close to 8 million Pounds. In all likelihood, this bid would be rejected by the Blues as they rate the Serbian international fairly highly and would not let him go at a penny less than 15 million Pounds.

Also, Ivanovic would demand very high salary, probably about 150 thousand Pounds on a weekly basis, which Arsenal is unlikely to agree on.

The Gunners are expected to lose Thomas Vermaelen who has been one of their key centre-backs in the last few years. The Belgian is rumoured to be all set to make his way to Old Trafford.

So, Arsene Wenger is looking for a player whom he can bring in as Vermaelen’s replacement. The Gunners boss admires Ivanovic a lot because of his ability to play at various positions and thus, he is interested in him.

Despite being a centre-back, Ivanovic can do a decent job if asked to play at right.

Ivanovic is understood to be quite open to take a transfer away from Chelsea. According to the reports, he hasn’t reached any agreement with Chelsea management regarding contract extension.

The defender had got along pretty well with the new Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho during the last season. He had started 36 out of the 38 matches in the Premier League and had even scored 3 goals.

He had played a key role in the victory of the Blues against the eventual league Champions Manchester City in an away game in February.

Ivanovic has been at Stamford Bridge since the winter of 2008 and in this duration, he has made a total of 269 appearances for Chelsea.