A year or so ago you would not have given Arsenal FC a snowball’s chance in hell of being able to sign the young centre back Rafael Varane from his current club, as the French international was a regular starter for Real and was drawing rave reviews for his performances in Spain and around Europe.
For some reason, though, Varane has dropped down the pecking order under first Rafa Benitez and now Zinedine Zidane, with Sergio Ramos and Pepe the preferred central defensive pairing and with Nacho starting to get more game time. At 22-years old and with his national team France about to host the Euro 2016 tournament this is hardly ideal for the talented young defender and there are growing reports that he could be moving on in the summer.
Varane himself has even hinted, as reported by The Mirror, that he is not really sure what his future holds and that makes me think that Arsenal should definitely be on the alert about the possible transfer of this player.
Varane said, “I would like to play every game. The coach knows what I want, but it’s up to him to make the decisions.
“I’ve spent five years playing with the best and I’ve never lost heart. without strength of character it’s impossible to stay at Real Madrid.
“It’s pointless making long-term plans in football. I’m happy in Madrid. I want to keep improving to go to the next level. We’ll see how my situation develops, but I’m not having any headaches over it anyway.”
So if Varane does decide he needs to move on, and with Madrid likely to spend big again they might well be willing to sell, Arsenal have reason to believe we could win the race to sign him. With Per Mertesacker’s place coming under pressure and with Varane’s international team mate Laurent Koscielny the first choice centre back, a move to Arsenal could be good for Varane and his international career.
How about it Wenger?
Frank
(This is a guest post from Frank at TheArsenalBlog)
I’D TAKE HIM!!!! but we’ve learnt that we can only wish.. and Wenger is the fairy who never grants wishes…i wont even think of the possibility of signing him because Wenger doesn’t see it like we do. He’d rather go for another gabriel this time from league 1
well seeing as we missed out of one of germanys brightest stars joel matip for free from schalke to liverpool
then sure suddenly bid 50 mill for varane- thats how wenger rolls now apparently
Joel matip Isn’t from Germany he is African Cameroon?
Mustsafi (Valencia ) is the best CB in laliga and he is attainable
Am I missing something here, he said he’s not having any headaches about having to wait or fight to get into the team and mentioned basically that this is what you would expect at a huge club like Real. Never lost heart, strength of character, unless there is some hidden code in there that not everyone can decipher well then I think it is wishful thinking to say the least.
Varane_aubameyang_Kante_ and Jenkinson IN
Arteta_Rosicky_flamini_debuchy_Sanogo etc. OUT
The last time I checked, dreaming was still FREE.
I forgot MAHREZ
And Messi
And Ronaldo
The most realistic and preferable options are..
Tah
Laporte
Sule/Stones/Bailley
Preferable yes but realistic?
Cech 10 mill for a great GK.
Elneny 7 mill to replace
Flamini and Arteta.
And you think Wenger will
pay 37 mill for one CB like Stones or Varane. 🙂
especially when he spent 12 mill on Debuchy
16 mill on Chambers and 15 mill on Gabriel
who have all failed to impress.
Wenger will use Chambers as 3rd CB Mertz as 4th CB
and bring back Jenkinson at RB. Back line sorted for free.
Sell Debuchy 4 mill buy Rabiot 9 mill to cover Cazorla.
GK Cech Ospina Macey
RB. Jenkinson Bellerin
LB Gibbs Monreal.
CB Koz Gabe Mertz
CB/RB Chambers.
DM/BB Coquelin Elneny Ramsey Cazorla Rabiot.
Entire backfield sorted for 5 mill.
Not preferable but realistic.
Eleney is not a DM
Not a chance. We never spend big for CB’s. We usually built them from unknown, like Kos and Gab. Mertesacker was big name, but he’s now the subject eh admin? In our way, new CB will need long time to adapt no matter who you are.
Realistic Tan/sule/umtiti
That’s joke right? Never heard any of them.
That is why it is realistic.
Well it goes to show your knowledge of quality young u21 CB is limited
Jonathan Tah (Leverkusen )
Umtiti (Lyon)is someone who has been looked at by Arsenal for 2years
Sule hoffemeim)is an absolute tank and likely to end up at Bayern anytime soon
****Kortney Hause from Wolves.*****
respect for scouting abit deeper than john stones an matt hummels fam haha
@muffdiver
Been watchin young dude a bit. Only 20, but he’s solid…
Varane has a lot of potential but he is a bit overrated; the best young centreback (no, not Jon Stones) is Jose Giminez. He’s an old-fashioned “un-Arsenal” centreback- great in the air, just a beast. Would be the perfect partner for Koscielny. He’s one half of the world’s best centre back partnership at the young age of 21. Atletico have conceded just 14 goals in their 30 league matches this season, facing the best attacking talent in the world. They also conceded just 3 goals in 8 Champions League matches so far.
Get Niklas Sule from Hoffenheim. That’s a kid with unreal potential.
I expect Arsenal to make only 3 signings.
Out
* Flamini
* Rosicki
* Arteta
* Sanogo
* Szczesny (deserves first team football, will not wait 3 years in waiting room) – £5mil
* Wellington Silva (the end of the road) – £1mil
* Debuchy (injured at Bordeaux and has burned his bridges) – £4mil
Maybe Out
* Walcott (under performed after he signed da thing, does Wenger have balls to do it) – £25mil
* Oxlade (Iwobi is ahead, Ramsey will be deployed on RW, I feel Wenger will stick with him) -£25mil
* Mertesacker (get some money while we can, could see him sold at Winter transfer) – £4mil
* Jenkinson (it is end of the road here, could be backup for Bellerin) – £8mil
* Campbell (great player but with Arsene he does not get played, he deserves better) – £10mil
* Toral (like to see what he got for Arsenal)
* Martinez (could be our 2nd GK if we sell Ospina and Szczesny) – £2mil
* Hayden (like to see what he has for Arsenal) – £2mil
On Loan
* Akpom (depends on our striker buy)
* Crowley (he needs to step up and fulfill his potential)
* Zelalem (had hot and cold season with Glasgow, would be great if he can be loaned out another year)
* Maintland-Niles (hot and cold too, plus we are packed on the right)
* Bielik (lets see what he is made of)
* Glen Kamara (Midfielder that is 21, it is a loan or he will be sold)
* Stefan O’Connor
* Mavididi (goes on loan so Malen can play first role in U21)
To Buy
* Lacazette (French + lot cheaper now than last year = Wenger buy) £20mil
* Xhaka (this could be our leader we so need) £30mil
* Centre Back £15mil
* Young Right Back (Serge Aurier would give us immense competition on right back) £10mil
Academy players to integrate
* Toral (had great season with Birmingham, if Xhaka comes Toral will go)
* Akpom (if we buy a new striker like Lacazette he will be loaned out again)
* Hayden (yes a CDM, can’t be worse than Flamini or Arteta, if not he will be sold to Hull)
* Jeff Reine Adelaide (time to take the big stage)
* Gnabry (Campbell replacement and could even leap over Oxlade).
Players we will not buy
* Mahrez (another player on the right, we have already about 6)
* Ibrahimovic (can we handle his ego).