Arsenal has made signing Denis Zakaria their next priority when they have completed the transfer of Ben White.
The Gunners have had a busy transfer window so far with White set to follow Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga into the Emirates.
Arsenal would then focus on their midfield, an area where they have lost the likes of Martin Odegaard and Dani Ceballos this summer.
Among the midfielders currently available at the club, they could still lose Granit Xhaka to AS Roma and have made Lucas Torreira surplus to requirements.
Todofichajes says they will move for Zakaria as soon as they have completed the transfer of White.
The Swiss midfielder has been their long-term target and he has told Borussia Monchengladbach that he won’t sign a new contract.
The German club is now open to selling him in this summer transfer window to avoid losing him for free next summer.
Despite having an expiring contract, the report says Gladbach wants €30M for his signature.
However, Arsenal is looking to negotiate that down but the Gunners are willing to pay over 20m euros to sign him.
Zakaria remains a key player for the Swiss national team and he was with them at Euro 2020 as they reached the quarter-final of the competition.
After watching him heavily labouring around during the second half in the Euro QF against Spain, I curiously looked into his stats for the last season and my worst fear was justified.
Zakaria missed eight months in 2020 due to a knee injury, including the start of the last season and the end of the previous season. Last season, he started just 17 games and completed the 90 minutes on just 9 occasions. Maybe he has recovered completely from his injury, but bringing him as a definite starter is a huge risk as PL is more demanding on the physical capabilities of any player who desires to excel in the middle of the park. We don’t need another episode of what Partey went through in his debut season in PL when he signed for us while recovering from an injury.
Would be a good signing, has all the attributes to excel in the prem. I wouldn’t read too much into his euro performances with him coming back from a long term injury. He has been rated highly in Europe for time and has played champions league football so has been tested at the highest level.
He’s a good young player; versatile, can play as DM or B2B, good pace and strength.
Like him better than Neves for sure and less expensive as well. The fee mooted for Ramsdale plus Xhaka sale (even for £15 -£18 million) would be enough for Zakaria and a competent backup GK.
Otherwise £70 million or more for White and Ramsdale does nothing for our woeful attack and falls short of competing for top 6.
Agree with 03 and Durand – I wasn’t impressed at the Euros either, but dig deeper and you see a decent player, and although usually labelled a DM he is far more progressive and skillful than that. If the price is as shown he’s worth it. That’s of course if any of the gossip is true…!
While not much is known about Zacharia’s quality. I strongly feel that Arsenal should be going for Bissouma. Bissouma is a proven premier league top quality midfielder. Normally players who come outside the premier league tend to struggle. Maybe it’s a question of finances but top quality players don’t come cheap. Food for thought.
underwhelming option, smells like settling to me…it’s difficult to properly evaluate any potential target unless there’s some clarity about what our base formation is going to be come the start of the season…if it’s the same woeful 4-2-3-1, then we need someone far more creative than this individual, unless we acquire another offensively-minded midfielder and allow Partey to press farther up the field far more often…let’s face it, we didn’t need to address our depth, especially without European football, with the same sense of urgency as we needed to bring in some top quality players who could properly fit within a best 11…so far we’ve only added one over-priced starter who can only do so much to lift us out of the offensive doldrums we experienced for much of last season