French reports claim Mathieu Valbuena is serious about a transfer to Arsenal.
As Mesut Ozil struggles for form, Arsenal’s dependency on him to perform and lack of alternative may mean signing a back-up would be a shrewd move in the summer.
With that in mind, a report in France in the last 24 hours linking Marseille ace Mathieu Valbuena to Arsenal is certainly interesting.
Le10Sport write: “Mathieu Valbuena should leave the OM during the summer transfer window. Several clubs are interested in the French international, who has a vested interest in the forcing to go to Arsenal.”
Valbuena has in recent weeks been linked to Liverpool, and has admitted a desire to play abroad: “I’ve never hidden that another challenge to a foreign league interests me.”
The playmaker is 29, with has a contract at Marseille until 2017, and is rated at around €15 million.
While capable of playing out wide on the left, Valbuena’s natural position is in the centre, making the majority of his 22 Ligue 1 starts there this season.
In those matches he has two goals and seven assists; and last season he scored four times and provided 15 assists for Marseille.
Arsenal’s priorities are of course going to be signing a striker in the transfer window, potentially a right-back if Bacary Sagna departs and a centre-back if Thomas Vermaelen moves on.
image: © wonker
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