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Arsenal in talks over £15m deal to sign Colombian defender

By mac14 on July 11, 2016

According to a report in the Mirror, Arsenal are in talks with Inter Milan over a potential £15m deal to sign centre-back Jeison Murillo this summer.

Most of the transfer gossip these days is around our search for a striker but Arsene Wenger is also believed to be in the market for a new defender and Murillo has emerged as a target in recent weeks.

Reports last month suggested that we had made contact with the Colombian international’s agent to discuss a potential switch to North London but now it appears we’ve stepped-up our interest even further.

The Mirror are citing reports coming from Sky Italia that claim Arsenal officials are now in negotiations with Inter Milan and we’re understood to be hopeful of agreeing a £15m deal.

With Inter needing to make-up a £39m deficit to meet Financial Fair Play regulations, it looks like we’re trying to squeeze a good deal out of them and the newspaper says Wenger is hoping to have the transfer wrapped-up within the next two weeks.

We’re due to fly-out for our pre-season tour at the end of the month so I assume the boss wants Murillo on board before that point as the tour will give him the perfect chance to get to know his new team mates ahead of the new season.

I’ve said for some time now that I think we need another top class centre-back as I’m not convinced Gabriel or Mertesacker are good enough to partner Koscielny and it appears Wenger feels Murillo is the man for the job.

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It’s always a risk bringing in a player who doesn’t have experience of Premier League football but Murillo is highly-rated in Italy so hopefully he will adapt quickly if he does end up joining Arsenal this summer.