Could Arsenal be signing TWO defenders this month?
Arsenal has been linked with several defenders this month but they have narrowed down that list to just two players.
One is Pablo Mari of Flamengo and the other player is Shakhtar Donetsk’s Nikolai Matvienko.
The former had travelled down to London for his medical and it looked like he would join Mikel Arteta’s side.
However, the deal stalled and he returned back to Brazil. Talks have continued between the teams and it now appears that the deal is back on.
With regards to Matvienko, Star Sports is claiming that Arsenal also has a plan to sign the Ukrainian from Shakhtar. The report claims that the Gunners already have an agreement with his club in place to sign the defender but they are yet to decide on completing the move.
Should Arsenal want to sign Matvienko this month, they will simply have to press on with the move, time is fast running out.
I am not sure how to take this one to be honest, on the face of it I would suggest it is unlikely to happen if the Mari deal is completed but at the same time, Arsenal does need more than just the one centre back.
I know very little about either defender, I have no idea if either of them will be a success, it really is guesswork, however, reports I have read lead to me to feel that the Ukrainian would be the better acquisition.
Deadline day could be very interesting.