It would certainly seem that Mikel Arteta’s top defensive target so far is the Brighton and England centre-back Ben White, but according to most Arsenal transfer rumours (and David Ornstein) there is also interest in the Sevilla defender Jules Kounde.
Kounde has had an excellent season in La Liga and he is rated at around 50m, which is about the same price as White would cost, but I would only expect the Gunners to make a serious move if they failed with the bid for the Brighton man.
But the Marca journalist Euan McTear thinks that it would be very difficult to persuade Kounde to come to the Emirates due to the Gunners failing to gain European football for the first time in 25 years while Sevilla have made it into next season’s Champions League.
Speaking to Football FanCast, McTear said: “Just the fact that he’s played Europa League, Champions League, Sevilla have qualified for the Champions League again.
“Once players get used to the Champions League, they tend not to throw that away too quickly so I think if Sevilla do manage to keep him, that’ll be a reason why, to play in the Champions League with them again.
“They’ve got a good project going, they were almost in the title race for a bit last season, so I think it has to be a really enticing project in the Premier League for him to leave.”
Having failed in getting Emi Buendia, their first transfer target of the summer, Arsenal will be keen to get their next big target over the line. And, of course, if Ben White signs for us after the Euros, then any interest in Koundes will become irrelevant…
That is a gamble buy something which we cannot afford to do at the moment. Better Ben white
👍👍👍
So if a journalist is not confident,arsenal can’t sign the player
And the dross goes on and on.