According to Italian outlet CalcioMercatoWeb, Arsenal are ready to pay £31m for Denzel Dumfries from Inter.
The Gunners could do with a bit more depth on the wing and at right-back, and Dumfries would be a brilliant player to plug that gap.
The Dutchman is just as good going forward as he is at defending, and he may well be perfect for Arsenal in the January window.
However, as good as Dumfries is, this may not be the most intriguing factor of this transfer.
Indeed, the most interesting part of this move may be the impact it has on Cody Gakpo’s future.
Gakpo himself said just last week when speaking to NOS that Dumfries is one of his best friends in football, and if he moves to Arsenal, that could give the Gunners and edge in the race to sign the PSV star.
Gakpo loves Dumfries
The winger spoke about his relationship with Dumfries very recently.
“Denzel Dumfries and I, we have a very good relationship. I often speak to him when I have questions. He has a bit more experience, so he helps me a lot.”
Selling point
Signing Dumfries would give Arsenal another selling point as they try to convince Gakpo to join.
It’s no secret that Arsenal are admirers of the Netherlands international, and they’re already an appealing destination – after all, they sit at the top of the Premier League.
However, we’ve seen before how players can be swayed by their friends to join certain clubs. Just look at how Tomas Soucek convicned Vladimir Coufal to join West Ham, how Aleksandar Mitrovic managed to get Lazar Markovic to join Fulham or how Oleksandr Zinchenko seems to currently be working on getting Mykhaylo Mudryk to Arsenal.
If Dumfries comes to the Emirates, his presence could play a big part in getting Gakpo to join the north London club further down the line.
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