Arsenal failed in their attempt to sign Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti.
Arsenal signed two defenders in the last transfer window and their fans will be happy that Mikel Arteta was able to get cover for a position that has given them so much trouble recently.
The Gunners signed Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares, however, they could have signed Samuel Umtiti instead.
Mirror Sports claims that Arsenal made a late attempt to sign Umtiti who has struggled for minutes this season.
However, the Frenchman turned them down and instead wants to fight for his place at Camp Nou.
Umtiti has played just ten times for the Catalans this season and Arteta had hoped that the promise of regular playing time would convince him to join, but that never impressed him.
The report claims that it was after Umtiti had turned them down that Arsenal began looking for alternatives.
They signed Mari from Flamengo for an initial loan deal and Arteta has admitted that he was happy to be landing a left-footed centre back.
Soares also joined from Southampton. Both players have joined on an initial six months loan deal with a view to making their moves permanent after this season ends.
Arsenal is expected to make some major signings when the season concludes and Umtiti might eventually be brought in to the Emirates.
It is most likely that any attempt to sign Umtiti was only a loan deal with funds apparently being tight according to the manager but as things stand right now, that is unclear.
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Good, otherwise we wouldn’t get a left-footed CB
The only Barcelona player I’d like Arsenal to get is Sergi Roberto. Who has been doing his job very well as an RB, despite his natural position is a central midfielder
Between Umtiti and Upamecano I would choose Upamecano. I would even largely prefer Ibrahima Konate Upamecano’s partner. He is tall and the real thing. Would RB Leipzig sell him. I doubt it.
Oh well, we got Mari.
What a day in the PL! Theo scored 😳
And I’m amazed that in 133 minutes Haaland has scored 7 times for Dortmund!! Wow!
Liverpool can break our 49 match PL unbeaten run before they match our invincibles season (but with more points)
Gutted, S! 😔
Records are there to be broken. Different team, different era in football. Comparisons are pointless. We’ll still be the invincibles, but possibly not the only ones. 2004 will remain forever a fantastic year, to be proud of.
True, SAGooner, and how proud we are!
I dont know what MA wants from his CBs but a CB being left footed or right footed doesnt seem like a problem to me.Top teams like RM plays Ramos and varane,both are right footed.Even liverpool has 2 right footed CBs.Both of these 2 teams have conceded less goals and makes plenty of diagonals.And as Xhaka often drops to the LCB position,we have an advantage because he is left footed.I think MA went for a good defender than a ball playing one,mari seems to be a good defender.
A defender should know the basics well only then he could be a good defender,the foot doesnt matter….
Just my opinion
COYG
I’m so tired of this Arsenal board. They lose one good opportunity after another. They say they can’t afford on buying Pablo Mari, but prefer a loan deals instead. A few years ago Arsenal “could” not afford Evans from WBA and he later went to Leicester. I just saw the game today between Leicester and Chelsea.
Evans was one of the best today. I think Arsenal probably could need such a playr in central defence. They should have bought him at that time -but Arsenal found Evans was too expensive two years ago for £8 million. LOL
A few years ago Wenger and others were in charge – we know where that left us with our defence. Times are achangin’
Reports claim many things. How many of them are true?
Its reported after every window, we went after such and such and they didn’t want to come, for whatever reason. We offered this amount and that amount and it wasn’t enough. Wether its true or false, we didn’t and dont end up with these reported non signings. The only truth is he/they are not Arsenal players because we didn’t buy them.
umtiti is usually an injuries prone player, therefore demiral merih is an alternative with William saliba