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Rodriguez confirms interest in joining Xhaka at Arsenal

By on June 3, 2016

According to the Evening Standard, Ricardo Rodriguez has confirmed his interest in joining Granit Xhaka at Arsenal this summer.

We’ve been strongly linked with a move for Rodirguez in recent weeks with the the International Business Times reporting late last month that Arsene Wenger has identified the left-back as his next transfer target.

The outlet suggests that Wenger is ready to formailise his interest by triggering the £19m release clause that’s written in to the 26-year-old’s Wolfsburg contract.

It appears Rodriguez is keen on making the move to North London as when asked if he would like to follow Swiss team mate Xhaka – who he shares a room with while on international duty – to Arsenal, he said:

“That would be exciting, yes, especially because the room arrangement at Arsenal would be fixed as well.” Rodriguez is quoted as saying by the Evening Standard

The defender is then reported to have said it was ‘unrealistic’ for him to remain at Wolfsburg after they finished eighth in the Bundesliga table, thus missing out on any form of European football.

Our pursuit of Rodriguez is an intriguing one as his arrival would almost certainly see Kieran Gibbs leave with the England international struggling to get regular football at Arsenal having lost his place to Nacho Monreal.

However, while Rodriguez is a huge talent and a fine left-back, I do question why Wenger would choose to spend almost £20m on a player who would basically be a back-up squad player.

Monreal has been one of our most consistent performers for the last two years so I see no reason why his place should be under threat meaning Arsene is eyeing Rodriguez as his understudy.

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It just doesn’t make sense for the boss to spend that kind of money on a player who won’t be regarded as a first team regular. Not immediately, anyway.  We don’t have endless funds, so surely that money would be better spent on a top class striker or centre-back?