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Arsenal eyeing cut-price deal for Bundesliga defender – report

By on July 2, 2016

According to the Express, Arsenal are eyeing a cut-price deal to sign Wolfsburg defender Ricardo Rodriguez after his £21m minimum fee buyout clause expired.

Rodriguez has been strongly linked with a move to the Emirates in recent months as Arsene Wenger looks for a potential replacement for Kieran Gibbs – who’s being tipped to leave the club this summer after losing his first team place to Nacho Monreal.

So far we’ve been reluctant to make any formal move for the left-back as the Express claim that Wolfsburg have been demanding the full value of his minimum buyout fee – which was set at around £21m.

However, the newspaper suggests that the clause expired at the end of June so Wolfsburg are now expected to sell Rodriguez’s for significantly less than the £21m fee they’ve been pointing clubs towards.

The Bundesliga club’s sporting director Klaus Allofs admitted last month that Rodriguez had made it clear he wants to leave the club this summer. He’s quoted as saying by the Express:

“Rici has stated that his future is not with us,”

“But we can live with this decision.”

Rodriguez is currently on holiday after playing for Switzerland at Euro 2016 where they crashed out on penalties after Granit Xhaka’s unfortunate miss but the Express claim he’s unlikely to return to Wolfsburg ahead of next season as the German outfit are expecting offers to come in now that his minimum buyout fee has expired.

Arsenal are named as one of the clubs who are likely to put in a bid as Wenger eyes a cut-price deal for the 23-year-old but we could face competition from Champions League winners Real Madrid.

Wenger meets striker’s agent but is reluctant to meet £40m asking price

I’d personally be sad to see Gibbs leave as he’s a great professional and a more than able deputy for Monreal but if he does go then Rodriguez would be an excellent replacement if we could get a deal agreed.

Monreal will probably continue to be our first choice next season with Rodriguez given a year to adapt to life in England but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Swiss star take over in 12 months with Nacho possibly heading back to Spain for the final stages of his career.