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Transfer news: Arsenal eyeing audacious double swoop to land £112m duo

By on December 21, 2018

The January window is just around the corner and reports today suggest Arsenal are plotting a stunning double swoop to sign two Real Madrid players worth around £112m.

Let’s start with the Independent, and they’re reporting that Arsenal are eyeing an audacious swap deal involving Mesut Ozil and Madrid playmaker Isco.

Ozil is clearly no longer in Unai Emery’s first team plans and was axed from the entire squad for Wednesday night’s League Cup defeat to Tottenham due to ‘tactical reasons’ so his days at the Emirates look numbered.

The Independent are one of several media outlets claiming today that Arsenal are ready to cash-in Ozil in January but his £300,000-a-week wages will make him difficult to offload.

So the club have a solution in mind with the newspaper suggesting that we’re hoping to persuade Real Madrid to consider a swap deal involving Ozil and Isco – who is also having issues at the Bernabeu.

The Spaniard has struggled to make an impact this season with Madrid chiefs questioning his fitness and the Independent claim the La Liga giants are ready to cash-in to help fund a squad overhaul.

Ozil remains a popular figure at Madrid having enjoyed a successful spell there between 2010 and 2013, however, the report suggests Madrid value Isco at around £100m so Arsenal would probably have to stump up a large fee as well as offering Ozil in exchange.

In what could be a stunning double swoop on the Bernabeu, Spanish outlet El Confidencial claims Arsenal are looking to secure a deal for Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas this winter.

Despite signing Bernd Leno in the summer, the report suggests Emery is already looking to bring in another goalkeeper due to the inconsistent form of both Leno and Petr Cech this season.

Cech is also 37 on his next birthday so we need a replacement and El Confidencial suggest Arsenal have identified Navas with Madrid ready to do business if we put £12.6m on the table in January.

Navas has won three Champions League’s with Madrid but he’s fallen out-of-favour following the arrival of Thibaut Courtois this season so the Spanish giants are seemingly willing to sell at a reasonable price.

What to make of these stories?

If we’re to lose Ozil, then I can’t think of many more exciting replacements than Isco but I think any swap deal would be hugely difficult to pull off given Ozil’s wages and Isco’s reported £100m valuation.

Plus, we’d no doubt face immense competition for Isco’s signature so I’m not getting my hopes up over this deal just yet as it’s highly unlikely to happen.

The Navas link is interesting as the club need to plan for life after Cech and the Costa Rican would be a top class, experienced replacement who’d push Leno for the number one spot.

However, I personally don’t think Arsenal will be looking to give up on Leno just yet and Navas would be mad to leave Madrid just to sit on the bench at the Emirates so I don’t see this happening either unless the club make a drastic decision over Leno’s number one status.