Mikel Arteta’s Premier League underachievers need a new defender but will they get La Liga stars Samuel Umtiti or Pau Torres?
Barcelona are in talks over a £45 million deal to bring Pau Torres to the Camp Nou, according to Sport. So if Arsenal really want to make the Villarreal starlet their big defensive signing this summer, they have no choice but to move fast.
Thanks to a certain Santi Cazorla, everyone knows the name of at least one of the Gunners’ top targets. The former Arsenal play-maker admitted to Marca recently that the North London giants had enquired about his Villarreal team-mate Torres.
However, as you might have guessed, Arsenal are not the only club to show an interest in a 23-year-old who is officially the quickest centre-half in the whole of La Liga (La Razon).
Barcelona’s sporting director Eric Abidal is in the market for a new left-footed centre-half. And, unfortunately for Arsenal, Torres is his number one target.
The reigning Liga champions are apparently in talks already over a deal that would bring Torres to the Camp Nou, with his £45 million price-tag perhaps covered by the seemingly inevitable sale of Samuel Umtiti.
Yet if there is a positive to this story for those of you in the red half of North London, it is that a World Cup winner is almost certain to be on the market this summer. Arteta is keen on the idea of bringing Umtiti to Arsenal, according to Sport, although the Frenchman isn’t quite the imperious force he once was.
Injuries have certainly taken their toll. But, at just 26, he has plenty of time to reclaim his place among the footballing elite.
Could Arsenal miss out on one defensive target and inadvertently land another?
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