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Arsenal boss blocks move to sign £18m Serie A midfielder

By on August 8, 2017

According to the Evening Standard, Arsene Wenger blocked any move by the club to try and sign £18m Juventus midfielder Mario Lemina this summer.

Lemina was strongly linked with a move to the Emirates during the early stages of the summer with the Mirror carrying a report in June that claimed the midfielder had been identified as a key target.

The Gabon international has struggled to hold down a regular first team place with the Serie A champions since moving from Marseille in 2015 as he’s made just 15 starts in two seasons.

Juve decided to cash-in this summer and Lemina is also keen for a new start in order to secure regular action and a move to the Emirates was mooted in the media.

However, Lemina is now set to join Southampton in an £18m deal after Arsenal failed to follow-up their initial interest and the Evening Standard claim Wenger was the man who blocked any move.

The newspaper says Lemina was initially identified as a possible target by our performance comparison matrix system at the end of last season and transfer negotiator Dick Law then put his name forward to the club as a player we should look in to signing after scouts also provided positive reports on the player.

However, the report claims Wenger decided against pursuing any potential deal for the 23-year-old and instead focussed his attention on signing Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon and working on a possible deal for Thomas Lemar.

I personally think central midfield is an area we desperately need to strengthen this summer but only time will tell whether it was the correct decision by Wenger to snub Lemina.

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He is relatively unproven so I can understand his signing would be viewed as a risk but hopefully the boss has other targets in mind as I’ll be hugely disappointed if we don’t bring in another midfielder before the end of the month.