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Report: Player keen on move as Arsenal eye swoop for £22m Serie A star

By on June 12, 2019

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Arsenal are interested in signing Thomas Strakosha and the £22m-rated Lazio keeper is keen on trying his luck in the Premier League but we face competition from Tottenham.

Unai Emery is reportedly looking to overhaul his squad this summer after we finished fifth in the league with the Arsenal boss tipped to bring in new defenders, a central midfielder and a wide forward over the coming months.

However, we may also be in the market for a new goalkeeper as Petr Cech has retired while David Ospina is on the verge of sealing a permanent move to Napoli following a successful loan spell meaning we have no senior back-up for Bernd Leno next season.

It looks like Emery may have identified a target as Gazzetta dello Sport claim Arsenal have now expressed an interest in signing Strakosha from Lazio following his excellent performances in Italy.

The 24-year-old stopper kept 13 clean sheets for Lazio last season after establishing himself as a key part of their starting eleven while he’s a regular with the Albanian national team.

Gazzetta dello Sport suggests that after spending seven years in Italy, Strakosha is eyeing a move to England as he’s ‘fascinated’ by the atmosphere of Premier League football so he could be open to the idea of joining Arsenal.

However, there are a couple of major stumbling blocks. Firstly, we aren’t the only club in the running as the Italian outlet says Tottenham have also expressed their interest in signing Strakosha this summer. Secondly, the report also says Lazio are desperate to keep hold of their number one and will demand at least £22m [€25m] to sell this summer.

Emery is working on a tight budget [reportedly around £40m] and we need to strengthen several first team positions so I see no justifiable reason for the club to spend half our transfer kitty on a back-up goalkeeper.

Leno was excellent during the second half of last season and deserves to keep the first team shirt next campaign so we just need a solid back-up for the German. Strakosha would do very nicely but we can’t afford to spend £22m on him so I’d rather we found someone cheaper or just promoted Emi Martinez to No.2 next season.