Arsenal asked to pay £23 million for Juan Mata

London: Arsenal has been asked to increase the price to at least 23 million pounds for Valencia star Juan Mata.

The Spanish ace has had interest from Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter over the past year. Arsenal was lining up an 18 million pound bid with boss Arsene Wenger seemingly ready to embark on his summer spending spree. A top Valencia source said: “There are specific clauses in Mata’s contract and, unless a club is prepared to match those, there is no chance Mata would leave. The club do not want to sell the player.” Mata last night insisted that he had no intention of leaving Valencia, a leading daily reported. “I want to win a trophy with Valencia next season. I’ve not planned anything different as I’ve a contract until 2015,” he said. The paper reports if Valencia receives an offer of between 23-26.5 million pounds they have to either let Mata go or offer him a pay rise to keep hold of him, according to the terms in his contract. ANI