Arsenal has stepped up their pursuit of Ryan Bertrand, but they face serious competition from Manchester City.
The Gunners have used Granit Xhaka as their left-back in some games recently because of Kieran Tierney’s injury problems.
The Scotsman has struggled to stay fit for much of this campaign and some teams have exposed Xhaka in games.
Sead Kolasinac will return to the club after his loan spell with Schalke 04 in Germany, but his long-term future is away from the Emirates and should be replaced.
Bertrand has been one of the Premier League’s most reliable full-backs and the former Chelsea man is leaving Southampton.
He has been at the South Coast outfit since 2014, but they cannot agree on terms of a new deal, so he is leaving.
The Daily Mail says Arsenal is keen to make him the deputy to Tierney ahead of next season.
The report says the Gunners will, however, have to see off competition from Manchester City to sign him.
City has been long-term admirers and might replace Benjamin Mendy with him as the Frenchman continues to struggle for form and consistency.
The lure of playing for a City team that almost guarantees winning trophies might see Arsenal miss out on signing him.
It doesn’t matter that the PL champions are interested in him, as a section of our fan base see him as over the hill anyway!!
What is wrong with Pep G?
He hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing?!?! 🤔🤔🤔
firstly Ken, there’s no definitive proof that City has any real interest in Bertrand…secondly, it’s not like Pep hasn’t missed with his recruitment decisions before, after all the suggestion was that he might have had a rethink about his Mendy acquisition…thirdly, when you have the team depth and deep pockets that they do, you can roll the dice a little more when it comes to cover purchases…fourthly, since when did you change your Wengerian tune about signing players over 30, as there’s no way he’s signing a one year deal at this juncture…finally, this is the same Pep who not only tutored our rather underwhelming manager, but continues to trumpet his praises…maybe he’s throwing Arteta a bone by feigning interest in this player to help his old phylon collector…remember this is supposed to be a “rebuild” not a retirement community
Love your irony, ken1945.
He is meant to be a short term backup to KT. I do not know why fans want to break the bank for a backup with no European football.
A Premier League Star, REALLY.
Just another old and injury prone footballer.
If Arsenal think this is the type of recruit we need to help us build a Champions league team, then I have a bridge to sell to Mr Edu!!
Then if Laca /Auba is leaving bring back Theo Walcot.If Cabellos is leaving why not bring back Aaron Ramsey. If Willian is leaving why not bring back Iwobi. If Leno is leaving why not get Joe Hart on the cheap? Why not replace Luiz with Socrates?Why not bring back Ozil to replace Odegard? Why not reward Kolasinac with a bumper 3 year deal? Endless possibilities!
The difference between us and City is that they can afford to have one or two underperformers in the their squad of 25, they can rely on the balance 23. Ours is the opposite, 23 underperformers and Saka and ESR are the ones who carriied us through this campaign. That is the reason why I do not support these over the hill players.No surprise City are the champs while we are mid table. Ask Lich., Willian, Peter Chek, David Luiz what they have achieved for us and with us.
Get the transfer wrong and get the season wrong