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Arsenal given great chance at signing bargain basement top quality South American

According to the latest transfer rumours Arsenal have been given the opportunity to sign a top quality defender for the rock bottom price of just £4 Million.

According to the Mirror FC Basel defender Eder Balanta, who has just one year left on his contract can be snapped up for the ridiculously low fee.

The 26-year-old is a versatile player that is comfortable at either central defence or at left-back.

Colombian Balanta won both the Copa Sudamericana and Copa Libertadores with River Plate before moving to Basel in 2016 where he added the Swiss Super League and two Swiss Cups to his medal haul. He has also played for the Colombian national team and was named in their 2014 world cup squad.

Now, I do not know too much about the player but a quick look on Wikipedia and it is clear he is highly thought of.

Álvarez Balanta has been highlighted with top praise in Argentina. Since debuting in top-tier Argentinean football, Álvarez Balanta has been deemed as the “best defender” in the league, earning that title within half of his debuting season. Compared to other Colombian legends, he has been referenced for Jorge Bermúdez’s hierarchy while having speed and agility to that of Iván Córdoba, all while also carrying wonderful strength and balance. Thus, he is often credited as a complete center-back. Left-footed, Álvarez Balanta has shown that he can play with his right as well. These talents had even made former River Plate coach Ramón Díaz, compare Álvarez Balanta’s talents to that of legendary Daniel Passarella.

Now, I do know Daniel Passarella and if Balanta is being mentioned in the same breath as the Argentine legend then having the opportunity to buy the defender for a measly £4 Million would come close to being the deal of the century.

Because of our low transfer budget, we are being forced to look for quality players at bargain prices and Balanta really does look like the perfect candidate in such a scenario.

I definitely think he is worth the risk based on the research I have done and hopefully, Unai Emery will come to the same conclusion.

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71 Comments

  1. Not interested in transfers at all today. Rip Jose. Some things are more important than even the arsenal.

    2. Sad news indeed. I remember the great goal he scored against Chelsea in the cup in his first season. What a cracking shot that was. He also started the following season very well, but after the mauling he received from Neville, and a spat with TH14 that was not of his own making, he never recovered. RIP

  2. For 4 million, it’s worth the risk
    We desperately need to strengthen defence and attack but need CBs

    1. Indeed. He looks too small to be a commanding CB in EPL, but seems to be a good bargain due to his international caps and he could complement a towering CB like Koulibaly/ Van Dijk

      There could be a problem with language, as what Gabriel Paulista had at Arsenal. But we have to snap him as soon as possible, because a Colombian international that costs this low is rare

      1. Still stuck on height?
        Not learnt that some of the best defenders ever are less than 6ft?

        His height has nothing to do with being commanding.

    2. Sounds like match made in Heaven for Kronke. I don’t know anything about player, except £4 million price fits right into Kronke’s plan. As long as he can deliver more than Monreal or Mustafi did.

      Is it too soon to say welcome aboard Eder Balanta?

  3. We bought Elneny from Basel as well. Swiss league players are very high risk purchases, not all of them come good like shaqiri and Salah did

    1. Elneny cost merely five millions and we almost sold him for ten millions, had him agreed to move to Leicester

      We had better get Balanta first and we can always ship him out if he doesn’t work well with the others

  4. I would take him, we desperately need a defensive left back. 1.82m is not tall for a cb, but works well as left back and he seems to have enough experience, south Americans mostly good enough on the ball for a full back.

  5. 2018/19 SUPER LEAGUE
    Matches played – 18
    Substituted- 2
    Benched – 2
    Goals – 2
    Played as centre back- 11
    Played as def midfield – 7 (2goals)
    Yellow cards – 6
    Red card – 1
    Missed 11 games due to injury (1 calf injury, 2 muscle injuries, 1 foot and 7 unknown injuries)
    Won – 9, Drew – 6 and lost 3 matches

    River Plates – 82 matches, 3 goals, 1 assists
    Fc Basel – 81 matches, 5 goals, 2 assists
    Super League- 54 games, 3 goals, 2 assists
    Colombia U-20 – 6 matches, 1 goal
    Colombia Senior team – 8 matches (debut at 21 years 5 days old)

  6. Used as left back or centre back by the Colombian Senior side. He however last featured for Colombia on November 14 2017 in a friendly away to China which Colombia won by 4:0

  7. The news of his death gives me some perspective and remind me life is vanity. Why I was so pissed off with our season. I’m alive, Arsenal is alive and there is tomorrow for us but sadly not for a former GUNNER who wore the colour and fought for the badge with honor. R.I.P ‘flying RAY’, REYES. The football world mourns you.

  10. Goodbye Antonio Reyes. I know how difficult this can be and I hope your family will find the strength and get the support needed to deal with this tragedy. Life is rough and short and we must live everyday like it is the last.

          1. ?? we can only laugh about it at this point! Just finished watching the Liverpool celebrations and I wonder if we will ever experience this in our lifetimes. We should have signed Klopp when he left BVB! And what a defender VVD is!

            1. Well if we didn’t laugh, we’d cry!! Oh I couldn’t bring myself to watch it, QD… what a horrible night, but at least it’s over!
              It would be lush, but I’m not going to hold my breath! We can’t even get in the damn competition! Dayum!!! ? the powers that be thought Mustafi was a clone of VVD…

              1. Sadly we can’t! But at least North London power shift debate with go on for a few more years now. The gulf between Mustafi and VVD is immense! Mustafi would have already taken out Son for a penalty and a red card for that gallop VVD made to make that impossible clearance.

    1. …like so many other talents we’ve let go by – we could have gotten klopp… then upon his arrival given him no money with which to turn the dream into an achievable reality..

    1. Sue I think Arsenal lost took something away from you (me though) it did leave a bitter taste in our mouth, and made Football a little uninteresting. And chamberlain got a championship league ?

        1. Baby I couldn’t care anything. I supported Liverpool quietly. Call it back stabbing?. Am close to hating football after every that happen on Wednesday. He will be alright ???. No more football noise for now.

    1. It was simply amazing watching those beautiful tears of failure roll down the faces of the scum. I think I’ll have Son’s tear-drenched face as my background image till next year!

      1. Hahaha nice one QD…………………..disturbingly for me I get sexually aroused by the sight of Spuds shedding tears ! hahaha

        If I could bottle Spud tears I could sell it as an Erectile Dysfunction treatment and make enough money to buy Kroenke out !

  21. …kane’s face say’s it all – he knows that to get to another european cup final he must come to terms with being…. SOLD 😀

    1. Spurs did their part but North London isn’t going to experience any bus parade, at least!!! But spurs have come a long way.

      1. …I recall months ago Ian Wright described VvD as the best defender in the world – at which point i stopped to think wrighty wouldn’t say it if he hadn’t believed it to be so. We seriously need to bring in some taller and athletic defenders or we won’t be taken seriously otherwise. (jus sayin).

    2. They knew they got extremely lucky with their fixtures to make it through this far! Only tough team was Man city. Same case with Man utd, they always played shit teams that had some how made it into the quarter and semi finals before winning their champions league. Even their Europa run was the easiest possible.

            1. Too bad none of the Arsenal players put enough heart and soul into the game to weep after losing the Europa League final.

    1. Seeing the Spuds cry ………………….I feel aroused enough to raise the Titanic ! hahahaha

      1. Ha, I thought after Wednesday, all hope was lost, regarding the titanic, but those good old spuds!! At least you can rely on them for some things!! ?

      1. Right !………I`m off to bed with a great feeling of relief after weeks of worry.
        However I will have to try and hide my arousement from my wife !

  24. i listen to a lot of football games throughout the season, and, i am getting the feeling that spuds are very cocky and arrogant on the pitch. maybe i am getting the wrong impression, but i feel that they behave a lot more cocky then , lets say, man.city, or , even , united. perhaps i am wrong , but,. thats the impression i am forming.my question to spurs would be …. what have you won to make you be so cocky on any pitch. when was the last time you guys won something ? well done the pool .

  25. Bargin basement price and short to boot. Naww. At least find a 6ft something bargain basement player

  26. Good, spurs lost. Doesn’t make Baku debachle feel any better. Spurs, Liverpool players still tried their hardest. The same cannot be said about our players.

    1. Also, maybe we can stop celebrating mere participation trophies as well. Like when people defend AW they like to bring up his UCL participation record. It doesn’t matter when you don’t even win it once and only get to one final. It’s actually quite terrible.

      1. Yes. Making CL and losing in group stage or 1st round sucks. In the last 15 years approx we’ve watched United, Liverpool, Chelsea win the Champions league

        4th place trophy sucks too. We even saw Leicester win the PL

        We should build a strong team like Spuds or Liverpool did.

    1. Grandad, how much could Arsenal have bought Virgil Van Dijk for when he left Glasgow Celtic?

      1. 10 million!
        Apparently Arsenal tought he was too expensive..
        https://www.justarsenal.com/should-arsenal-just-pay-the-8million-for-celtics-van-dijk/37929

        And van Dijk was keen as well. He said: “Arsenal are an amazing club,” he said “It’s a big club with a great history but so are Celtic and I’m very happy here just now. I just want to play well and we will see what happens in the future. There are stories but until there are bids I can’t say anything.

        “I have ambitions but Celtic is an amazing club with a lot of history.There is no rush to leave but you never know in the future.”

        GUTTED!

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