Arteta was tipped to bolster his defence this summer. After William Saliba’s injury towards the end of the season, his side failed to find stability. For some, that’s one of the reasons they lost the league. Top defenders were considered for a move to the Emirates to solve the exposed defensive issues.
By now, it is clear Jurrien Timber is Arteta’s defensive pick; the Gunners are doing everything to bring him on board. They’ve reportedly already agreed to personal terms with him, and now all that is left is for them to reach an agreement with Ajax, who is keen to pocket £50 million for the 22-year-old’s exit.
Before settling on Timber, Arteta had considered one or two other top centre-backs. Bayer Leverkusen’s “defensive block,” Edmond Tapsoba, is one of them. Tapsoba is one of the finest one-on-one defenders. He would have been a fine addition to Arteta’s project, not that Timber wouldn’t be. Any top team would jump at the chance of signing him, So why did Arsenal drop out of the race for the 24-year-old?
Fabrizio Romano claims Arsenal felt the Leverkusen star’s swoop would be too expensive. He admitted on his Youtube channel, a few days ago: “This list (of defensive options eyed by Arteta) includes Edmond Tapsoba, a player always appreciated by Arsenal but not a priority this summer because I’m told he’s too expensive.”
Reports suggest Tapsoba is moving to Spurs, but I doubt Arsenal will regret that transfer, considering that upon the signing of Timber, the Gunners will have a centre-back and a right-back in one.
Darren N
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Did Arsenal even enquire on Tapsoba’s price or they just assuming he’ll be too expensive? Sounds like going cheap again to me. I would of bought him just to stop the Spuds from having him.
Timber has a much higher ceiling than Tapsoba.
Nah, I’m sure the exceedingly highly paid expert professionals amongst the top in their industry just entirely forgot to enquire of his price and instead just made a random assumption based on an online football blog therein chose the budget option. I’m sure zero scouting, analysis or business planning went in before choosing the player they eventually went for.
Signing a player purely to stop a mid table team from getting him sounds like a shrewd business plan. I’m actually baffled that you’re not employed by an elite club!
Over two weeks ago a regular contributor told me he had never herd about this lad Tapsoba.
I told him this lad is monster to which Evgunner replied jokingly, that can’t be good.
At 6″4 this lad has pace to burn ,relishes the physical side of the game, ideal for the high pressing, he’s a more accomplish a defender that could start ahead of Saliba in games.
If Tapsoba end up at the Spuds am afraid, they would have gotten a better deal, in my opinion.
But why not use Xhaka as a sweetener to get him over the line ? its same Leverkusen Xhaka is reported heading out to.
If he’s as good as the scouting guru that you appear to be says he is have you stopped to consider why he’d move to arsenal to sit on the bench just as he approaches his prime years….?
His versatility will be very useful to Arsenal considering the injury profile of Tomiyasu.
Come on tapsoba fast,beast,tall..you singing praises as if hes the real deal.Not long ago you overhyped davinson sanchez too..how did it turn out?You spurs fans in disguise?
I hope he’s mostly a fullback option and White comes in to replace Saliba if needed. I thought Gabriel and White were good together for a time
I am not bothered about Tapasoba since we y pursuing Timber but my concern is arsenal not acting swiftly enough. I am tired of reading arsenal about to,arsenal monitoring, c’mon,let them do one thing and move on. Very soon Man City will buying Declan Rice and we will be regretting it .
Go in for timber for a fee of around 45M and then bid the same amount of money which city will bid on Rice over 100M because Rice wants to join Arsenal.After the 2transfers try sell party, hijack Chelsea’s top target Moises Caicedo for around 80-90M.Revenge for Mudryk.