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Arsenal ‘Will Trigger’ €43m Buy-Out Clause In January – Report

By on October 9, 2014

With Arsenal’s players dropping like flies over the international break I thought I’d bring some transfer news to cheer you up and reports today are claiming that Arsene Wenger will trigger a €43m buy-out clause in Aymeric Laporte’s contract in January.

The 20-year-old is widely regarded as one of the best young defensive talents in Europe and enjoyed a superb campaign with Athletic Bilbao last season that saw him feature in almost every game for the club.

He was strongly linked with a move to the Emirates over the summer but despite the likes of Man Utd, Barcelona and Bayern Munich also showing a keen interest, the youngster was persuaded to remain at Bilbao where he penned a new long-term deal that included a buy-out clause worth €43m (£34m).

However, that doesn’t appear to have put off Arsene Wenger as the Express are reporting that the boss has renewed his interest in the defender and will meet his release fee when the transfer window reopens in January.

We could certainly do with another centre-back as we have just three senior players who are recognised central defenders, namely Chambers, Koscielny and Mertesacker. Chambers is currently occupying the right-back role with Debuchy out injured until the New Year so we are dangerously low of options at the back.

Obviously Debuchy is likely to be back by the time January comes around but with the club now sweating over the fitness of Koscielny after he was sent home from the France squad with a long-standing Achilles problem, Wenger would be wise to strengthen his options as soon as he can.

Laporte would be an exciting addition and he’s very-much in the same mold as Chambers. He’s young, highly-rated and although he’s predominately a centre-back he can also fill in at left-back if needed.

The only issue is the price. The Express claim Arsene is willing to pay €43m (£34m) but I find this hard to believe as that seems like a huge figure for us to pay for a defender, but we’ll have to see how things develop the closer we get to January.