Nine central defenders linked with Arsenal but will any of them sign?

If there is one position that Arsenal needs to strengthen it is central defence and while most of the headlines have been focussed on wingers there are a few centre-halves that have been linked with a move to the Emirates.

Joachim Andersen

Remember him? Well, it seems he is set to sign for French Ligue 1 side Lyon according to Le’Equipe

Gary Cahill

He is available for free, but can you really see Arsenal signing him? I cannot, even this board will know that the fans will not be best pleased with an aged player from Chelsea who hardly played last season and anyway, seems that he is on his way to Aston Villa.

Djene Dakonam

Dakonam was mentioned by David Ornstein but his 35 Million euro release clause is a bit of a stretch and it has gone a little bit quiet where he is concerned.

Mario Hermoso

He has rejected a contract offer from Espanyol and is set to leave the La Liga side, however, competition is fierce with Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich reportedly interested and despite having a release clause of £40 Million he could be had for as little as £18 Million due to having just 12 months left on his contract.

Samuel Umtiti

Injury prone and very expensive but even so, he would certainly be welcomed but the Barcelona star is probably out of our reach financially with reports that the Spanish Champions want 60 Million Euros.

William Saliba

One of Unai Emery’s prime targets but his transfer is complicated by his club St Etienne wanting to loan him back for a year and now there are reports that Roma wants him.

Armando Izzo

Arsenal has reportedly been in talks with the 27-year-old’s agent and are ready to make a bid of £22.5 Million for the Torino defender but then again, that was the Sun that reported that.

Presnel Kimpembe

The versatile PSG defender can play both left-back and central defence and played under Emery when they were both together at the French Champions but there has been little about him recently despite earlier speculation.

Dan-Axel Zagadou

The 20-year-old Borussia Dortmund defender apparently wants to be reunited with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyand so claims German tabloid BILD and it is said that his agent is at work trying to get him a move to the Premier League.

There are some others that I didn’t feel were worth mentioning which is saying something considering some of the candidates above, as an example Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld.

But the list above is enough to be getting on with and I must say it does make for depressing reading with the most likely to join us, William Saliba, probably unavailable for a year.

Hardly inspiring is it?

21 Comments

  1. I would go Saliba and Zagadou, both young and tall. Even if Saliba is loaned back then you could spend a few years working on their positioning and technical abilities. if it works you could have a CB pairing for years to come. You would also have Holding in the mix.
    If it doesnt work they are young enough to sell on.
    Keep Kos for one more season.

  2. Funny but I think if the club have there way they would go with freebies that will save them some cash

    And we all know those list of players are media initiated most of whom the club have never even thought of

  3. I think only viable and possible of them is Mario Hermoso.

    Djene – too expensive
    Umtiti – too expensive and injury prone
    Cahill – we already have one calamitous defender in Mustafi
    Saliba – we might get him but he won’t feature for us this season
    Zagadou, Kimbempe, Izzo – I don’t think any of them will move without +40m transfer fee. So not likely.

  4. When will arsenal start showing ambition to challenge for major honours it’s like we have forgotten whom we are…we are arsenal not Everton..the club will show top eight ambition the fans will expect title challenge…
    And when things settles we would blame who ever we think is closer to the problem be it caoch or recruitment team..

    Where is our Ambition all this year’s while others have been winning major honours what did the club for to help us achieve top 4 last season we had injuries at back needed a winger for the final push but they went for another freebie in Suarez…
    Why was Suarez gotten to it was just to keep the fans at bay when we know in reality what we actually needed..

    If I have my way I would challenge the boardroom/Kronke to show me where his ambition lies

    1. Ambition comes from the too and our owners only ambition is to line his pockets and ensure his portfolio performs well enough.

  5. Enough of mery-go-round, chose 1, sign and lets move to the next. We have already tabled bid for over 3 or 4 players yet none is close to having medical. Am begining to suspect Raul and others doing negotiation are armateurs just like adminMart like to describe. Almost every1 know u are buying Saliba for next season, why hesitating on finalizing the deal so you could go for this season target. Kos, monreal needs to move on at least, mustafi could be back up but with right kffer, sell, lets get 1 cb, 1 lb, 1 or 2 winger, sell elnely, jekinson. Loan malcom, buy fraizer/or some1 more reliable, if 25m is ok buy Fekir

  6. 1 point of 4th 2 points off 3rd.
    Finalist in the Euro.
    Whats the problem?
    Mustafi,Papa, Mavro are fine.
    If Koz goes just promote Bielik.
    Unai has a years experience on board.
    Hector will be back, we probably getting Tierney.
    Torreira will be even better this season.
    Xhaka is more reliable.
    Ozil’s still top class.
    Auba and Lacazette are as good as any.
    Guendouzie is now ready.
    We really only need a left back.
    We have a slew of young payers in the attacking end.
    Buy Tierney and get on with the season.

    1. Don’t be deceived by stats united finished 2nd two seasons ago and last term they finished 6th
      Finishing 1 point behind 4th and 2 behind third was as a result of how bad our rivals performance where not a hint of how good our was…and this stats doesn’t mean you will automatically accelerate to the top next term

    2. By any chance, are you one of the board of directors at AFC?
      You seem so positive and optimistic about our players, in fact you made me smile for the first time on this portal. And you forgot our very own Inesta – Elneny, our own Hazard – Iwobi, and the antagonizing Kolas, intimidating AMN & Mkhi. Yes, we can even lift the UCL with this team, oh, but we just lost the Europa recently!

    3. Agu Emen, And the weather will stay fine, all will live happily ever after and no one will even berate you for being a fantasist. Oh what a perfect world;at least in YOUR BIASED HEAD!

  7. Don’t worry folks still loads of time to go and for AFC in the transfer window so we can still rush through some last minute desperate bids for bang average players when our targets and their clubs realise we are cheaper than Poundland.

  8. Currently there are now 89 clubs who have spent more than us, including the giants like Juventus U23, Brentford, Krasnodar and 1. FC Union Berlin.

    We are thrilling to watch!

  9. I would be happy with Holding, Bielik, Papa & Mavropanos as CB selections IF we get a solid partner for Torreira/Guendouzi and one awesome winger.

    That’s because I want to see our youth given a chance. Emile Smith Rowe has never dissapointed whenver I’ve seen him play and looks like a perfect Ramsey replacement.

  10. Only Saliba will I saliva over as it`s the only one Kev said was in the bag ! 😀

  11. Hermoso by far the best CB.

    IMO the 3 players Arsenal should sign first are :
    Hermoso, Bennacer and Ziyech.

    Then take Saliba and send him back on a year loan, this lad is the next Van Dijk but still unexperienced at the moment (spend the money from 2020 mercato).

    And eventually Arsenal should go for Zaha and Tierney if they sell well other players.

  12. This constant guessing game of pick out a few names and guess which, if any AT ALL – which is far from certain – will sign for us ,is becoming tedious and repetitive in the extreme. Wiser fans will simply wait to see and not play this silly guessing game.

  13. Yes JF,it’s becoming tedious to say the least.Of those listed recently only Saliba and Tierney appeal to me as long term solutions to our defensive problems which do not exist according to one contributor who considers Mustafi and Socrat is to be “fine” Dear me, have we got it all wrong John?

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