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Arsenal launch late £12m bid to sign international defender – reports

By on January 31, 2018

According to the Daily Mail, Arsenal have launched a late £12m bid to sign Jonny Evans but it’s fallen short of West Bromwich Albion’s asking price.

Arsene Wenger has focussed on strengthening his attack this month with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arriving but the boss is also reportedly in the market for another centre-back during the closing stages of the window.

Per Mertesacker is due to retire in June, Laurent Koscielny is plagued by an Achilles injury while neither Calum Chambers nor Rob Holding have shown any sort of consistency at the back so it’s no wonder we’re after another defender.

Evans was strongly linked with a move to north London in the summer and reports last week suggested we had renewed our interest after making contact with West Brom about a potential deal.

Things went a little quiet while we wrapped-up the Aubameyang deal but the speculation picked up again this afternoon and the Daily Mail claim we’ve submitted a £12m offer for the Northern Ireland international.

However, the newspaper says it’s still well short of the Baggies valuation – which is around £20m-£25m – so we’re going to have to dig a lot deeper if we want to get a deal pushed through before 11pm.

Evans isn’t involved in West Brom’s game at Man City tonight due to a hamstring injury but it remains to be seen whether he’ll need to rush anywhere to get a move to Arsenal finalised.

Personally, I can’t see Arsenal going much over £15m for a 30-year-old centre-back who could be available for on the cheap in the summer if West Brom are relegated as a £3m release clause will be activated if the drop to the Championship.

But last night’s disastrous 3-1 defeat to Swansea once again highlighted our need to strengthen at the back so I hope Wenger manages to pull off a last gasp deal for someone.