Mikel Arteta wants Premier League Arsenal to sign a Bundesliga defender – Jerome Boateng, Jonathan Tah, Dayot Upamecano or Evan Ndicka.
Bayern Munich veteran Jerome Boateng is something of a last resort for Arsenal it seems with Sky Deutschland claiming that Mikel Arteta would rather sign three other Bundesliga centre-backs instead.
Who knows what Arsenal’s defence will look like when next season kicks off?
David Luiz appears to have won over his critics after a string of mature performances since the turn of the year though doubts persist about whether Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Calum Chambers, Pablo Mari and co have a future in North London.
William Saliba looks certain to be a first-team fixture when he returns from a loan spell back at St Etienne and the 19-year-old Frenchman is unlikely to be the only new face in Arteta’s backline.
Sky claims that Boateng, a World Cup, Champions League and seven-time Bundesliga winner, is indeed a target. But a man who will turn 32 before the end of the year is not the top priority, despite his silver-coated CV. Far from it.
According to reports in Germany, Arteta would prefer a younger, quicker centre-half – one which may allow him to take a leaf out of Pep Guardiola’s book and replicate his mentor’s high defensive line.
Jonathan Tah of Bayer Leverkusen (above), Evan Ndicka of Eintract Frankfurt and RB Leipzig’s £50 million rising star Dayot Upamecano all fit the bill.
Upamecano in particular is rapidly establishing himself as one of Europe’s top centre-halves with a masterful Champions League performance in the 3-0 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur last month proving why can be found in the gossip columns almost every day of the week.
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