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Wenger Eyeing Cousins, McCarthy + Lascelles Ahead Of Potential Bids

By on January 24, 2014

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has sent his scouts to keep a close eye on English youngsters Jordan Cousins, Alex McCarthy and Jamaal Lascelles, according to reports today.

The report claims that Wenger wants to boost his squad with an influx of home-grown talent and has instructed chief scout Steve Rowley to watch the highly-rated trio in recent weeks ahead of potential bids.

Rowley has been monitoring the progress of Charlton’s 19-year-old right-back Cousins and with the future of Bacary Sagna still up in the air, he could be looked upon as a back-up to Carl Jenkinson if he’s promoted to the first team should Sagna depart in the summer.

Reading goalkeeper McCarthy is also of interest to the club with Wenger eyeing the 24-year-old as a potential replacement for Lukasz Fabianski – who’s contract expires in the summer and is expected to leave the club at the end of the season.

McCarthy impressed when Reading were in the Premier League and he’s caught the eye of a couple of top flight clubs, so we may have a fight on our hands if we decide to make our interest official.

The third name we’re watching is Nottingham Forest centre-back Lascelles. We’ve been strongly linked with the 20-year-old in the past and were even understood to have had a bid rejected back in 2010, but it seems Wenger is now renewing his interest and could make a second attempt to bring him to the Emirates.

Arsenal have a growing British core already with the likes of Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson all regulars in the first team, and it appears Arsene is keen to expand the home-grown influence further.

None of the trio we’re watching would have an immediate impact in the first team but are all highly-rated and could turn out to be astute purchases in the future.