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Arsenal Eye Atletico Madrid Midfielder – Report

By mac14 on August 4, 2014

Arsene Wenger is showing an interest in Atletico Madrid midfielder Josuha Guilavogui as his search for a defensive midfielder continues, according to reports.

We’ve been strongly linked with Sami Khedira and William Carvalho over the last few days but the Express claims that Guilavogui is the latest name to be under consideration.

The 23-year-old only joined Atletico from Saint-Etienne last summer in an £8.5m deal but has struggled to establish himself in Diego Simeone’s starting eleven and spent the second half of last season back on loan in Ligue 1.

A permanent move this summer seems certain and the French international has been hotly tipped to join Wolfsburg over the past 24 hours with the Bundesliga outfit understood to have tabled an £11.5m bid.

However, the report suggests we could now battle the German side for the defensive midfielders signature as Wenger looks for potential options should he fail to land our top two targets.

We’re struggling to agree personal terms with Khedira while Sporting Lisbon are wanting around £24m for Carvalho, so Guilavogui would represent a much cheaper alternative.

I’d still prefer to see us bring in someone like Khedira, Carvalho or Morgan Schneiderlin, but Guilavogui could be an interesting option if none of those deals are possible.

He was hugely impressive during his time with Saint-Etienne and although he’s failed to make an impact at Atletico, it means we could pick him up for a decent price. We’ll have to see how things develop but I’d only expect us to move for Guilavogui as a last resort.