According to the latest Arsenal transfer gossip, there are two central defenders that Arsenal manager Unai Emery has added to his wishlist.
The defenders in question are Daniele Rugani of Juventus and Olympiakos’s Pape Abou Cisse.
Now, as things stand right now both these rumours are absolutely unsubstantiated and could merely be the usual tabloid fodder but because of our desperate need for defensive reinforcements, any speculation regarding the potential signing of a central defender is worth monitoring.
The Pape Abou Cisse one is about a week old and I basically ignored it at the time because it did not emanate from a reliable source and the same applies to the Daniele Rugani one, which has come about in the last 24 hours but I have now decided that I will start to keep an eye on these ones more in hope than anything else.
The idea that Arsenal does not sign a centre half is beyond comprehension and I have to think that Emery and the powers that be at the club have finally woken up to this most obvious fact.
With regards to Cisse, it has been reported that Wolves are set to beat us to his signature with a fee of £10 Million being touted.
If Arsenal is genuinely interested in Cisse then I would be shocked if we lost out to Wolves, especially for a fee of £10 Million.
Rugani is more interesting because the Juventus defender is reported to be surplus to requirements in Turin since the signing of Matthijs De Ligt from Ajax.
That makes sense to me because the Italians will have to balance the books and it is only natural that they would sell after splashing out a significant sum of money for the Dutch teenager.
No fee has been mentioned for the 24-year-old who has played just 69 times in Serie A for Juventus in seven years.
So, there you have it, two central defenders being linked with a move to the Emirates which may well be just tabloid bull right now, but who knows, anything is possible.