Arsenal transfer rumour round-up – Benatia, Musacchio, Halilovic, Romero

Our club appear to have already wrapped up our first signing of the summer transfer window, with Granit Xhaka having been seen sporting our official kit for the 2016-17 campaign, but who else could be coming to North-London.

A centre-back is believed to be high on our agenda in the coming window, with Gabriel and Per Mertesacker having struggled to earn a regular starting role this season, and we have two possible defensive additions to bring to you today.

Bayern Munich’s Mehdi Benatia has only featured in 29 league appearances for his side since joining from Roma in 2014, and looks to have fallen further down the pecking order following Mats Hummels return from Borussia Dortmund. The experienced Moroccan is likely to have offers to return to Italy, but is said to be the subject of a move by Arsenal this week.

Another option could be Villarreal’s Mateo Muscchio. We  raided the club for Gabriel Paulista 18 months ago, but he is yet to cement his place in the side, and we could now be set to land his former defensive partner. Roma are also believed to be keen, but surely the Premier League would look a more attractive destination?

We are also believe to be set to revive our interest in a fellow Argentine in Maxi Romero. The 17 year-old is claimed to have been set to join us last summer, before an injury scuppered the deal, but we remain keen on his signature. He is said to be likely to cost around £4.5 Million.

Another future star in Alen Halilovic is also on our radar, but this attacking midfielder has claimed he is solely concentrating on his football ahead of the Euro 2016 tournament, which has been twisted to mean he will consider his future after Euros. The Barcelona youth product has enjoyed a loan spell with Sporting Gijon this term, and is not expected to be a part of Barca’s plans for the new campaign.

Which defender could earn a regular role alongside Koscielny? Could we be set to bring in more young stars this summer?

Tags Arsenal Benatia Halilovic Musacchio Romero

6 Comments

  1. I don’t think that Koscielny is the same player as yesterday year!.. He didn’t exactly have a good season did he?
    He made more than a few mistakes, as well as being caught napping!… maybe that has something to do with his hip and back problems, let’s see if he misses any games for France, due to them recurring injuries.
    I’m expecting Gabriel to shine for us, next season ?

    Don’t forget the interest in Rob Holding and Ben Chilwell.

  2. Our priorities are glaring enough. We know what Arsenal need to becoming champions. An established but young CB and ST at least will improve the squad immensely. Benatia for me is ageing and isn’t a long term replacement plan for Metersacker. Their are a whole lot of young defenders out there who have a hand full of experience. PSV won the Dutch league back to back and would you tell me Arsenal scout cannot find an outstanding performer in the defence? Toby and Vantoghen of Spurs are products of the Dutch league and they have been able to settle well at England. Southampton’s Van Dijk is another wonderful talent who was Southampton’s player of the season. Serie A also boast of some exciting young defenders like Romanogli, Rugani , Rudiger to mention but a few. I honestly don’t understand why these players have not been noticed and contacted. Benatia’s game against Juve shows he had lost form deeply and I don’t feel he is right for Arsenal.
    Also, the midfield is going through a huge overhaul with Rosicky, Arteta and Flamini all leaving. These players should be duly replaced with young and experienced players. Xhaka a young leader, we can say replaced Arteta who use to be the captain. But Arsenal still need one more Midfielder and a Winger to cover up the loop holes. Isco for me would complement the Arsenal team. He can play both as a midfielder and a winger.
    Nevertheless, Giroud needs to be sold. This is the only time we can get a decent amount off him. Cash in on Giroud for about 25m and get a younger and more promising Striker please. Vincent Janssen should be strongly considered.

    1. @Legendary, I tend to agree with most of what you have said but Central Midfielder is the last we need at the moment because we have enough of them in my opinion, at least two reliable options in each position +standbys.

      DM: Xhaka, Le coq, (El neny and Chambers)
      CM: Cazorla, Elneny, Ramsey, (Wilshere)
      Cam: Ozil, Wilshere, Iwobi (Cazorla, Sanchez)

      I think that’s enough regulars and backups, so before we talk about signing anymore CM we first have to sign CF, CB and Winger.

      1. I think people are forgetting – how much game time either of Flam Ros and Arteta used to see. Flamini and Arteta in particular, Flam played plenty, and Arteta would have but for injuries. Rosicky last season would have been useful in some peoples thinking. That’s three players going out and one in so far. What if Xhaka gets injured, Ramsey and Wilshere cannot be completely relied upon, can Cazorla stay fit?. We would be down to Elneny and Coq, Id be fine with that but a problem for us is when we don’t rest players. Id also be fine in giving youths a chance but I know there are more than a few on here who think our youngsters are nowhere near ready enough. Unless one or two of Bielik, Sheaf, Zelalem, Crowley and Toral can be marked down for a place, well then I think we are still maybe a little short. We do have priorities of course, but there’s nothing to say we cant shore up in the mean time.

  3. We must purchase more midfileld and strikers: N’OGOLO and RIYAD MARHEZ!!!! and Pierre Eric Aubamoyang!!!

  4. De Vrij has been linked to arsenal as early as 2011 and has blossomed into arguably the best up and coming cb in italy. he is defensively sound and has a pass accuracy of 90%.

    another dutch cb that has stood out this year is van dijk who was also strongly linked with arsenal since last year. His performance for southampton has been unrivalled in the prem

    both are roughly the same age as gabriele and could form the next long terrm partnership at arsenal

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