Arsenal has been on the lookout for a long term replacement for Nacho Monreal and according to recent reports, including just today, we may well have found that replacement.
Today, CalcioMercato are claiming that Juventus have joined Arsenal and Manchester United in the race to sign the Benfica left-back Alejandro Grimaldo and just two weeks ago the Metro claimed that we were favourites to sign the 23-year-old, along with Manchester City.
So, the reports are consistent, we are interested in the young Spaniard and so are a lot of other high profile clubs it seems. But what do we know about him and will he really be a long term replacement for Monreal?
He started his youth career off with Valencia before being snapped up by Barcelona, where he spent four years at the famed La Masia academy, he then progressed to the Barcelona B team playing 92 games, however, he never broke through into the senior team and was sold onto Benfica in December 2015.
Grimaldo is a regular starter for Benfica, he does find the goal occasionally, seven times this season in fact, which is rather good for a left-back. He has not yet featured for the Spanish national team but over a five year period played 21 times for the Spanish youth teams.
This is a player that has quite a few games under his belt, including significant experience in European competition, he is clearly talented otherwise the likes of us, Juve and the Manchester clubs would not be keen on him, he likes to push up front and takes a brilliant free kick.
To get an idea of his talent check out this video
For me, he is definitely a player we should be going after and the fact that we are being consistently linked with him is a great sign and yes, he is for sure a good long term replacement for Monreal.
Fingers crossed we sign him.
Big NO the left back position is not the position where arsenal should spend big back especially with our limited budget this guy would cost us 40+mil
Any upgrade to the team would be highly welcomed. but seeing that Bayern has just signed Lucas Hernandez from Atletico Madrid, it won’t be a bad idea to go in for David Alaba, afterall he just confessed recently to being an Arsenal fan… wishful thinking you will say, but this is football where anything is possible nowadays.
As far as I know, Lucas Hernandez is more of a CB, Bayern was talking about the CB role when talking about signings… If I’m not mistaken. He can cover LB but I thought he was more of a CB.
He was more of a left back in France world cup winning team and I think CB is his secondary position.
I was curious and looked at Transfermarkt, apparently he’s played CB more this season, but still a good chunk at LB. Doesn’t have the best injury record either.
We need to improve our whole defensive line to eventually compete with the best.
So yes all improvements are most welcome
According to online sources:
Arsenal have agreed a deal worth around €6 million + addons for Brazilian wonderkid Gabriel Martinelli. He is exected to join the squad in the summer but work permit issues may complicate it. The player is however known to have an Italian passport.
A deal for Carrasco is also being explored. €22 is said to be enough, but CL could play a decisive role in him joining.
Arsenal are also prepared to offload Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Shrokdan Mustafi, Mesut Ozil, Calum Chambers and Mohammed Elneny in order to reduce the wage bill.
I am not fan of carrasco at all another diva,would be better to keep mikhi instead, in martineli case i still do not get it, we have launched an offer or agreed the deal?
well, as for me, I think Carrcasco is gonna be a good buy if we end up signing him, we need wingers who can dribble and score and he is one. Aside Iwobi, we don’t have any and I think Carrcasco is a proven player made for the big stage.
@Kev.Thanks for the inform but my worry is if we sign another kid for the future .Corrasco should not use UCL as an excuse for joining us coz even in China he does not play in the best team.
Until it’s official, all these news are just rumours. I hope my beloved Arsenal make it to the top four and also be pushing for EL as well.
Depends how big our budget is. I wouldn’t blow 35mill of it on a LB when Monreal and Kolasinac can still get us through another season. Tierney from Celtic would be a cheaper option, and he’s British which is a category of player Arsenal severely lack in compared to the other top teams. Our defensive buys always tend to be foreign and they usually end up being bang average.