Arsenal almost signed World Cup winner in January, now they have another chance

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Arsenal are being offered Samuel Umtiti as they have the chance to finally sign the Barcelona defender this summer.

The Gunners have seemingly lost their Champions League dream after losing 2-0 away at Newcastle United on Monday night.

Now two points behind Tottenham Hotspur with one game to play, Arsenal look to have missed out on the top four.

That’s frankly a disaster for Arsenal and a major blow to their summer transfer plans.

Arsenal won’t have the budget they expected and may not be as attractive to potential signings without Champions League action.

Mikel Arteta may still want reinforcements this summer and Umtiti will be one player for Arsenal to consider.

Arsenal are being offered Samuel Umtiti

The Daily Star report that Barcelona are ready to offer Umtiti to Arsenal in an attempt to get him off the books.

Umtiti is surplus to requirements at Barcelona and his days at the Camp Nou appear to be coming to an end.

It’s stated that Arsenal have admired Umtiti for a long time now and have tracked him since the 2018 World Cup.

What’s interesting is that Arsenal allegedly came close to signing Umtiti back in January.

Mundo Deportivo claimed that Arsenal had ‘practically completed’ a deal to take Umtiti on loan.

The idea was for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to join Barcelona – which did happen – with Umtiti heading to Arsenal.

However, an injury to Umtiti meant the deal was scrapped and Arsenal didn’t strengthen their back line in January.

Umtiti, 28, has been through injury hell in recent years and has played just one game for Barcelona this season.

Arsenal may well fancy signing another left-footed centre back to offer cover and competition for Gabriel Magalhaes.

That isn’t going to come from Pablo Mari, who could head to Udinese permanently.

Arsenal need to avoid these kind of deals though; players who would command big wages and have poor injury records or are past their best.

It’s hard to see Umtiti improving this Arsenal team and even if Barcelona offer him on a silver platter, Edu should look elsewhere.