Arsenal may not be landing Reims defender Axel Disasi after all.

Arsenal may have William Saliba joining up with them this summer, but they’re still being linked with a number of centre back signings.
Mikel Arteta has David Luiz, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Shkodran Mustafi, Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Saliba at his disposal, and could even sign loanee Pablo Mari permanently.
Yet defenders are still being linked with the Gunners, and Reims star Axel Disasi is one name strongly linked in recent weeks having impressed this season.
Now though, the Daily Mail report that Southampton are confident they will beat Arsenal and Tottenham to Disasi’s signing in a £13million raid.
The Saints will seemingly hope that guaranteed playing time will help win the race for Disasi, who has played a key role in Reims qualifying for the Europa League.
The 22-year-old is big and strong at 6ft 3in tall, and the idea of him joining fellow Frenchman Saliba in the Arsenal defence for years to come may have been appealing.

Yet with Southampton now thinking they will sign Disasi, Arsenal fans have been taking to Twitter to react, with some believing that he will go on and become the latest player to leave Southampton for Liverpool in a big-money move in the future – just like Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne, Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk in the past.
Some think that missing out on Disasi isn’t a big miss, but others think it’s hilarious that Arsenal could miss out on Disasi to Southampton, and are urging the club to get him signed up rather than see him become another Van Dijk.

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