This one has come out of the blue slightly with reports today claiming that Arsenal has made enquiries about signing Dayot Upamecano from RB Leipzig.
The Bundesliga outfit has apparently informed Arsenal that it will cost them a cool £70 Million if they want to sign the 20-year-old.
The young French centre back is highly regarded and according to the Guardian, the U21 French international is the Arsenal’s prefered central defender target.
There are actually reports coming out of Germany via tabloid BILD that Arsenal have already made an official bid for £55 Million.
Whether it is just an enquiry or whether an official offer has been tabled, this is significant because it does show that Arsenal has finally woken up and realised that a central defender is a must if they want to have a successful season.
The defence has been widely lambasted through the pre-season culminating in a poor performance last night in the 2-1 loss at Barcelona, a performance that undermined the positive efforts from the forward line.
And therein lies the big issue, Arsenal have become a team that is unbalanced, great going forward with a formidable front line and weak and porous in defence.
As for Upamecano, he has impressed at Leipzig and is a commanding presence in defence despite his young age which has seen him become one of the most highly sought after defenders in Europe.
He will not come cheap but if Arsenal does sign the young man it will be a huge coup and will almost certainly strengthen the defence significantly.
He looks to have the physical outlook of a Premier League player. Lets hope we can get a good player in and not some panic buy.
Yes, they have to check this guy thoroughly
Mustafi always has amazing defending stats at Valencia and at Arsenal. But I bet Arsenal scouts forgot to check his errors at his old club, which might almost relegate Valencia at that time
Valid point
He sounds to be an excellent young CB, because he managed to bring his club participate in CL this season
Ideally Arsenal have to get a better CB and a better RB to improve their away forms. But I don’t think we can get the high quality ones, unless we sell some of our defenders
A fringe CB like Rugani is not good enough for Serie A, let alone for EPL. I think Arsenal have realized that getting Rugani as their main CB would be too much of a gamble, unless Rugani can shift his gear as what Henry and Vieira did a decade ago
You Always something negative to write about
That’s a double negative!! ?
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You’re not wrong Nonny; gotanidea calls Rugani a “fringe CB” “not good enough for Serie A” when he is an Italian international, being kept out of the winning Juventus team, by Chiellini and Bonucci, two of the best CB’s in Europe!
Stop this ridiculous talk about a transfer budget. We’ve already spent over a £100M, another £25M on Tierney planned and have now put in a bid of £55M for the Liepzig player with a higher bid to come. With 90% of transfers paid by instalments and Vinai’s statement that the £40M budget was a load of rubbish and yet you and others are still questioning whether we can afford the outlay. What more will convince you?
That was for Gotanidea
Kenny, it better you don’t pay attention to that guy. I’m sure you saw what he wrote about Upamecano, a player he had spoken of highly in some of his past comments and recommended we go for him. He just types what comes to his mind without giving a thought to it.
Thank you Mobella, He’s a youngster but I think his heart’s in the right place. He just needs a bit of guidance.
gotanidea, have you considered the quality of the CB’s keeping Rugani on the bench? Also Juventus has bought De Lijt giving them four top quality CB’s.
We haven’t spent anything close to a hundred million. Well, unless you mean 100 million Ghana Cedis. Pepe will be paid for in installments only 20million will be paid upfront.
I thought you really knew of this Upamecano guy. Cos on countless occasions have you dropped his name.
Be careful of what you ask for? ….
He looks decent on transfermarkt though
Better RB in Sidibe would do us no harm afterall
£70m in installments. Thank you RB. Only Wayne are getting him.
Throw Mustafi in the deal + £65m.
Hes German so why not see if he could go home like Koss is doing.
Upamecano will enter the last year of his contract next year.
If RB Leipzig don’t lower the price, it’s better to buy him next year for half the price and loan someone now.
Or buy Boubacar Kamara from Marseille who has already entered his last year and would thus not cost more than 20 mill., possibly less.
We should be wise with the money. And I trust defenders from the Ligue 1 more than Bundesliga because the physicality is closer to EPL than Germany. Upamecano does seem strong enough, though, so the point might be irrelevant in this case.
Thank you for that info. One need to know what they are smoking in Leipzig. He had only 21 appearances last season and he is just 20 years. We are generous for offering 55m. If they don’t take that we should go for the OM kid. If this boy worth 70m then Mustafi worth more base on his experience and it will so foolish of us to offer them 65m + Mustafi for kid who has done much in the game as suggested above. I know we think so little of our players and a lot shit about no wonder we couldn’t sell them. I like Upamenco but he is no Mbappe of CM and he is 40m plus base on his potential and because we got Saliba for27m
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Unfortunately I don’t see us getting any player in again but I hope this new regime proves me wrong.
I am putting my faith in Josh, Raul and Emery to take us back to glory days.
Buying a defender now isnt a panick buy, in fact 70% of our tartagets this summer has ben defender, its now clear we are still very active in the market and i trust we will get right value, hopefully not an injured or injure prone player
We need a CB that will fix our problems THIS season. We just bought Saliba as our player of the future. Not buying for a second that a 20 year old is our solution to our decade-long defense problem. Hope this isn’t true. Buy a ready-made defender PLEASE.
Jenko going to Forest???
Oh yes please!! I think even Forest is too high a level for him
Hope it works out for him Sue, he is a real gooner through and through.
The lucky bu**er lived his dream, something most of us will never do!!!
Forest aren’t a bad club either, they helped get The Arsenal started.
I do too, Ken. I guess you could say their playing career is over in the blink of an eye, so they have to make the most of it..I hope he gets a good run in their team!
Seems like he’s been with us forever, Ken!
Evening Sue/Ken, hope you are both well? I think that would be a positive move for Jenko. A gooner through and through, but not an Arsenal player I am afraid. I wish him well. So I don’t know about you 2, but I actually have a good feeling about the direction we are taking. Yes Silent Stan is a moron and in it for the cash, but it seems for the first time since Mr Dein was chief negotiator we appear to be getting things done. Even with the financial constraints Kroenke puts on his business!! When they let Kos go, which we need to (nobody is bigger than the club). We need a decent centre back, who ideally is a leader! Sunday can’t come soon enough though, last time we started the season at theirs it was goalless and our new super signing Gerviniho was sent off. Surely it’s not too much to ask for more than that. Chat soon. Best Wishes Paul
? ? ? We should all wish Jenkinson well.
@ozzie Right you are.Keeper Emy Martinez and Jenks are the only two current gunners I can think of who played in the (in)famous 7-5 game with Reading.
Hi there, Paul… how are you? Not seen you on here in a while!
Yes things are looking pretty good, right now…. as you say, just need to sort the defence!
I am excited (& a little anxious!!) about Sunday, but we’ve been waiting long enough for it to start… and it’s finally here, so I hope we give it a good go!! The first game isn’t always great for us (Liverpool, West Ham, Villa spring to mind!) But then remember the Leicester game?!!
Haha Gervinho..
can’t arsenal swap the kid from Leipzig for mustafi + cash…win win for everybody, mustafi get’s to go back home
Will Leipzip be able to afford Mustafi wage demand? Thats another issue of concern. We have lots of below average players on superstar wage level. I think mustafi earn more than Erikson and some spur stars.
How i wish we could snatch that Erikson guy, it wont be more than 50m
i think i have been vocal about this and i hope 3 months into the season i can be vindicated….. WE DONT NEED A NEW CENTRE BACK….. Just tierney and we are cool. If u watch all our pre season games we loose only when mustafi comes in as a sub. The pairing of chambers and sokratis is making sense. Holding as next contender when his fit. We just need a good left back thats all. I wouldnt even sell mustafi since kos is going. I will just make monreal a 4th choice cb am sure that should spur mustafi to improve. Lol also why buy a new cb when next year saliba will return except on a loan so that when the cb goes back saliba will replace him.
As a gooner we all hope you are right! However a pairing of Sokratis and Chambers away at Anfield in August, we will get torn to shreds with their lack of pace/mobility in my opinion. We need a centre back, before the window closes. Cheers Paul
i have been a gooner (fan) effectively for 21 years. An arsenal supporter for 23 years and i have been an Arsenal idol for 10 years…….lol but sincerely we gooners never seem to be optimistic at all….. Even if we signed de ligt and maguire we would still not be satisfied. I have said this before a good defence isnt about names but about cordination and understanding. Chambers was player of the season for fulham last season that should speak for him though in a different role but its was a defensive role. So far in pre season he and sokratis are beggining to click. Lyon and barca both scored their winning goals when sokratis was subbed for the german way maker (mustafi) hahahahaha that guy always seems to create a way for opponents when there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see……..(gospel song on my mind) lol but sincerely a back four of tierney sokratis holding/chambers and bellerin isnt bad at all. Cheers
pay him US$ 40 million + Musthafi makes sense..
Looks like Barca said no for the Umtiti loan, so we decide to buy Upamecano 🙂 great news.
Umtiti has also gone on the Barcelona trip to Miami FL.
Konate will probably be more expensive, but he would have been a nice choice as well, think about the following season when Saliba comes home
🙂 that will be a great partnership either defender.
I am sure they have enquired about him but I do not see us spending another 70M i hope i am wrong he looks a strong and robust type of CB, just right for the premiership.
Upamecano looks a strong, physical player. Very comfortable on the ball, unlike Mustafi. Not seen him a lot but he could pair well with Saliba next year. We need somebody…yesterday.
If this happens then I’ll be in heaven.
Our attack is sorted. We now need to fix our defence and this would help loads
Pepe, Cellabos, and a Quality CB is far more than I expected
This CB can play DM as well
It probably won’t happen but Pepe has made me a believer.
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What ever you think of Jenkinson he has been a model pro and stuck at it,he wanted to prove himself here and I take my hat off to him,no whingeing or primadonerish tantrums went out on loan without making a fuss and was always ready to fight for the cause,true he isn’t blessed for being a great player but good luck Carl wherever you end up.
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