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Reports from France: Arsenal table £20m bid to sign South American star

By on June 15, 2018

According to Le10 Sport via the Sun, Arsenal have tabled a surprise £20m bid to sign Brazilian defender David Luiz but it’s already been knocked back by Chelsea.

New head coach Unai Emery has already signed right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner on a free transfer from Juventus while we’re also being tipped to sign Sampdoria defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira and centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Borussia Dortmund.

However, it looks like Emery is still keeping his options open as the Sun are citing a report from Le10 Sport that claims Arsenal have tabled a shock £20m to sign Chelsea’s David Luiz.

The South American’s future at Stamford Bridge is in serious doubt as he fell out of favour under Antonio Conte last season and the 31-year-old looks destined to leave Chelsea this summer.

It seems Arsenal were hoping to offer Luiz a fresh start across London but the French publication says Chelsea have already rejected our approach and it remains to be seen whether we’ll go back in with an improved offer.

It’s a curious move by Arsenal. There is no doubt Emery needs to revamp our defence as we shipped 51 league goals last season and haven’t been able to defend properly for years.

Per Mertesacker has retired, Laurent Koscielny is out for several months with an Achilles injury, Shkodran Mustafi has disappointed since arriving from Valencia and neither Rob Holding or Calum Chambers have developed as hoped.

We’re expected to bring in two new centre-backs this summer – one experienced pro and a young up-and-comer. 30-year-old Sokratis has been widely tipped to be our experienced addition at the back so why would we go after Luiz unless our deal with the Dortmund man was in doubt?

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Maybe Emery wants two experienced central defenders but it would be very un-Arsenal-like to spend circa £40m on two defenders who were the wrong side of 30 and would have very little re-sale value.

Let’s see how things progress but I’d be shocked if Arsenal signed both Sokratis and Luiz this summer – which is unlikely anyway after Chelsea knocked back our opening bid.