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Arsenal told to pay £70m to sign French star after seeing £55m bid rejected

By on August 6, 2019

It looks like it’s going to be a hectic last few days of the summer transfer window at Arsenal as Unai Emery reshuffles his defensive options.

Laurent Koscielny is on the verge of joining Bordeaux in a £4.6m deal and the club are actively trying to sell Shkodran Mustafi so we desperately need to bring in a top class centre-back before the window shuts on Thursday evening.

Thankfully, it appears Emery is working hard to land one as Bild, via the Metro, claims Arsenal have tabled an opening £55m [€60m] offer for RB Leipzig defender Dayot Upamecano.

The 20-year-old has become a vital part of the German outfits side after developing into one of the best young centre-backs in European football since joining the club in 2015 so understandably Leipzig are reluctant to sell.

Upamecano’s release clause is set at around £92m [€100m] but the Guardian claims Leipzig have told Arsenal they would do business for the Frenchman if £70m was put on the table this summer.

After spending £72m on Nicolas Pepe, I highly doubt Arsenal have another £70m lying around to spend on a defender so Leipzig will need to lower their demands if a deal is to be agreed.

Interestingly, Upamecano only has two years left on his current contract so his value will drop considerably next summer if he doesn’t sign a new deal over the coming season. This is the kind of leverage Arsenal could use to try and drive the price down so fingers crossed we can get a deal done as Upamecano would be a superb signing.

However, Emery has a back-up option lined-up as the Guardian claims we also have interest in Daniele Rugani. There have been reports of a two-year loan offer being rejected by Juventus but the newspaper says Arsenal remain interested in taking the Italian defender on a short-term basis after being quoted £50m for a permanent deal.

I’d be delighted with either Upamecano or Rugani but time is running out for Arsenal to get an agreement in place. We desperately need a new central defender so let’s hope we can land one of our targets before Thursday’s deadline.