Arsenal is the leading contender in the race to sign Juventus defender, Merih Demiral as they look to fix their leaky defence.
The Gunners have already conceded 30 goals this season and have some players who are punching below their weight at the back.
Their poor form at the back coupled with the new long term injury to Callum Chambers has made signing a new centre back a top priority.
The Gunners have been looking to sign Demiral since they learnt of his lack of opportunities at Juventus.
However, he has started the last four Juventus game, but reports via the Daily Mail claim that he could ask for a move away if he loses his place in the first team again.
The Mail further reports that Arsenal is the favourite to land the Turkish defender if he decides to leave Turin.
The Gunners would face competition from the likes of AC Milan, Atletico Madrid and Schalke 04 for his signature.
Demiral joined Juve from Sassuolo last summer in a £15 million move but the Gunners will reportedly have to shell out more than £40 million to prize him away from the Allianz Stadium.
With the likes of Shkodran Mustafi and David Luiz underperforming Arteta may be forced to splash the cash on this signing.
Arsenal have also been linked with a move for RB Leipzig defender Dayot Upamecano, however, their advances have so far been rebuffed.
It does seem that the club is determined to sign a top-quality centre back this January.
If one new CB comes, one of our CBs would most likely be sold, loaned out or traded as a part of the deal
I predict Mustafi would go, but I hope Arsenal sell Sokratis instead. Both often made errors and their contracts will expire in June 2021, but Mustafi is four years younger than Sokratis and faster than Sokratis
If we bring in someone because we lost Chambers, what would be the logic in selling another CD before the summer window?
But Mustafi is not as good a wrestler! Sokratis is the Prems “best” wrestler! Personally, I can’t wait to see the back of Sokratis AND Mustafi. Both are useless.
Demiral is a very physically powerful, left footed,left sided centre back who along with Soyunco of Leicester, forms a strong barrier at the heart of the Turkish national team which has qualified for the finals of the European Championship.I very much doubt if Juventus will consider selling him as he is definitely one for the future.As to the merits of Mustafi and Socratis,neither is good enough for Arsenal.
We had the chance to get Çaglar Söyüncü but didn’t. We got David Luiz. Bit like an old fashioned Brian Rix farce. Why we never brought in tall Athletic CB’s such as Demiral, Ibrahima Konaté, Dayot Upamecano or countless others. Instead we bought old men like Luiz, NON athletic players like Socratis and lower level players like Mustafi. Even in our history we had Cygan, Stepanovs, Squillaci, really poor choices. Besides Kos we have not had a quality athletic CB, and he never had any decent CB next to him at all. There are a lot of you athletic CBs in the new style all over Europe and in Africa. How is it we always miss them or don’t sign them when they are around the 20 year old mark. We have had this failing for more than 10 years.
Actually I think we got Sokratis instead of Soyuncu.. and past summer we got Luiz instead of Upamecano etc.
But yeah, we have made terrible defensive purchases in the past few years.
We had one greatly athletic CB…johan djourou 🤣😂🤣
Que???? Djourou and Senderos..Arggggghhhh.
Terrible defenders lol, djourou was hella athletic to be fair! Just also happened to have the footballing brain of a wet dish cloth lol
Sokratis is very aggressive (and i like that) but he lacks pace and good passing abilities.He is not a bad defender just not good enough at the moment.But i think he will improve under MA
David luiz on the other hand is a bad defender.I know he has been doing well since MA came in but he is comfortable with the ball not without it.He also lacks pace and good awareness.his priority must be in improving his defence if he is to stay.
I dont think slow defenders are bad for epl as far as they can defend.Cheillini is a good example,he is not that fast but can play in any league around the world.He is a superb defender and has got great awareness.
So its not about PACE!!!
::: my opinion:::
Mavraponas if he can get fit and have the guidance of Arteta with a good run of games in the u21 he could be an asset for the future.
Saliba has had 2 injury already this season, one before it started then came back and played really well then broke a bine in his foot but is back training now. Keep an eye on this lad he could be a great CB signing… finally!
I always wanted Soyuncu at Arsenal and had put it on here numerous times along with Articles as he looked the part even on his bad foot he could spray a pass now loom what a good coach (Rodgers) has done with him. I’d still pay big money to Leicster to sign him.
Holding was superb before he injured his knee and was out for 8months or so we may still see Arteta work with him as he is a good CB just needs polished up along with Chambers, his injury is a massive blow.
Youth is the what we dont need we need a experienced CB and Sell Sokratis. I’d keep Luiz until his contract runs out, he cost 8m and is a leader.
We have saliba coming in the summer … we need to bring a quality cb now and sell one of the old timers now and other 2 in the summer … that would still give us 4 CBs plus chambers as a utility player … but quality and experience paramount
and hopefully Saliba is not made of glass, as Sean points out (I know that you aren’t quite saying that Sean…). Great and not able to play isn’t really that helpful.