Quantcast
Home   >   Transfer News   >   £20m defender one of 7 targets as Arsenal plan £80m summer spree

£20m defender one of 7 targets as Arsenal plan £80m summer spree

By on May 26, 2016

It looks like it’s going to be a hectic summer at Arsenal as the Mirror claim that Arsene Wenger has identified seven more transfer targets as he looks to spend £80m over the coming weeks.

We wrapped-up the signing of Granit Xhaka for a reported £30m earlier this week but Arsene appears set to carry on spending with a new centre-back and striker his priorities.

The Mirror claim that we’ve identified Kalidou Koulibaly as a potential new partner for Laurent Koscielny next season after watching the central defender impress for Napoli this year.

The Senegal international stands at 6ft 5ins so he’s an absolute beast and the newspaper suggests it would take £20m to persuade the Serie A club to cash-in this summer.

I think that would be money well spent as Koulibaly has been outstanding in Italy and we need a powerful presence at the back after familiar problems cost us on several occasions last season.

As has been widely reported elsewhere, the Mirror also claim that Alvaro Morata is Wenger’s prime striker target and the Spaniard is expected to cost upward of £30m.

Real Madrid are set to activate a buyback clause and re-sign the Spaniard from Juventus before selling him on at a profit and it looks like Arsenal are leading the chase for his signature.

However, I’ve previously expressed my concern that Morata isn’t the prolific goalscorer we’ve been crying out for. He is only 23 so has plenty of time ahead of him to hone his goal-scoring skills, but we need the finished article now and I’m just not convinced Morata is the answer for us.

Either way, he’d still be an exciting signing and the Mirror claim that Wenger’s spending will top £80m and he’s also apparently got a list of younger targets in mind as he looks to freshen up the squad.

The paper says that Atletico Madrid defender Lucas Hernandez, Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney, Bolton defender Rob Holding and Fulham winger Ryan Sessegnon are all on Wenger’s radar while we’re also set to renew our interest in teenage Argentine forward Maxi Romero.

I assume Tierney is being eyed as a potential replacement for Gibbs while Holding could come in if Chambers is sent out on loan while Sessegnon may be targetted if Oxlade-Chamberlain departs.

It’s certainly gearing up to be a busy few months at the Emirates and if we could sign Morata and Koulibaly to compliment the arrival of Xhaka for the first team, and throw in a few young back-up players, I think it would have been an excellent summer in the transfer market.

5 Comments