Arsenal are believed to have set their sights on Crystal Palace’s Patrick Van Aanholt this month, after the club ruled out an exit for Tyrick Mitchell.
The two have been battling it out for minutes this season, with both featuring 11 times in the left-back role this term, although Mitchell sneaks it on minutes with 11 starts of the 21 PL matches thus far.
The Gunners were believed to have shown interest in the younger left-back, but Crystal Palace are supposedly unwilling to discuss his exit as they see him as the long-term option for the role, and the Mirror claims we are now turning our attentions to his team-mate.
PVA has only six months remaining on his current deal, which will be a huge boost in our negotiations as we look to not overspend this window, and he may well have ambitions to return to a bigger club after failing to break into Chelsea’s first-team squad despite showing promise in their academy.
A new left-back coming in could well open the door for Ainsley Maitland-Niles to leave on loan, with a number of clubs believed to be of interest, as the English defender eyes regular action ahead of the European Championships this summer.
Would Van Aanholt be an improvement on our options at left-back as we seek cover for Kieran Tierney?
Patrick
As an experienced international and natural left footer he would be good back up and competition for Tierney.AMN is on his way out on loan and this would leave Cedric and Bellerin to compete for the right back spot.Based on current form Cedric should be the first choice in my view.
Strangely I think Cedric is better on the left, so maybe he should actually be the cover for Tierney…as such, we should be focusing on finding a true replacement for Bellerin…maybe keep AMN as cover for whoever we get, then finally sell Bellerin
I don’t really undestand why we are looking for cover for Tierney. Cédric has played excellently in the left back-role. Maybe he is played out of position here, but IMO he has been convincing.
My opinion has changed on backup LB. Would rather get youth in there for a low price. Even if they become half-decent we can sell them later too. I’d rather not waste probably higher wages on a backup. We need to think about getting players who have selling values. We’ve been so bad with that lately.