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Premier League trio on Wenger’s radar if £15m Mustafi bid fails

By on August 3, 2016

The Daily Mail have offered an extensive update on Arsenal’s search for a centre-back and claim that Scott Dann and Federico Fernandez are on Arsene Wenger’s radar if we fail to land top target Shkodran Mustafi.

The boss has confirmed he’s looking to bring in an experienced central defender before the start of the season after Per Mertesacker was ruled out for five months with a serious knee injury.

Mustafi has emerged as our top target in recent days and the German international fuelled speculation that he could be set for a move to the Emirates after pulling up in training yesterday with a very convenient injury.

The 24-year-old has now been left out of Valencia’s friendly against Bournemouth tonight, with the Spaniard’s coincidentally over in England as part of their pre-season preparations and have been training close to Arsenal’s London Colney base.

The Daily Mail claim that Wenger is now ready to step-up his interest in Mustafi and has been discussing a £15m bid with his coaching staff, and the centre-back is understood to be keen to speak with us about a potential move.

However, our supposed £15m bid will fall short of Valencia’s £25m asking price so the newspaper says that the boss has been lining-up alternatives with Crystal Palace captain Scott Dann and Swansea defender Federico Fernandez on his hit-list.

The Mail also suggest that we scouted Jonny Evans during West Brom’s friendly with Torquay on Monday but have withdrawn interest in Kostas Manolas and Kalidou Koulibaly due to their high price-tags.

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It’s certainly going to be an interest few days and it looks like Wenger is ready to try and land a Premier League defender if he fails to get a deal agreed for Mustafi. It’s not a terrible plan but if we were to go down that road, please god don’t go for Evans!

I’d personally like to see us go for Swansea skipper Ashley Williams – who seems to be available for around £10-£15m – or possibly Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk.

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