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Arsenal want to strike deal to sign £57m South American defender

By on February 27, 2018

According to Football London, Arsenal are hoping to sign £57m star Jose Gimenez after Arsene Wenger made the Atletico Madrid centre-back his number one summer transfer target.

Our frailties at the back have been exposed throughout the season with Shkodran Mustafi’s schoolboy error against Manchester City on Sunday the latest in a catalog of errors this campaign.

Mustafi was linked with a move away last summer and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him leave this year while Laurent Koscielny’s best days are behind him as he’s hampered by an on-going Achilles issue.

Per Mertesacker will retire in June while the likes of Calum Chambers and Rob Holding have struggled to prove they are the answer to our problems so at least one centre-back should be on the agenda this summer.

Gimenez has been linked with Arsenal many times in the past and Football London cite reports from Spanish outlet GOL that claim Wenger has now set his sights on signing the Atletico Madrid star.

The report says Arsenal have made the 23-year-old their number one transfer target after seemingly missing out on Stefan de Vrij and Wenger is lining-up a swoop for the Uruguayan international.

Gimenez has a £57m release clause in his contract so there is little Atletico could do to prevent him leaving if we agree to meet that figure and the centre-back makes it clear he wants a move to the Emirates.

However, it might be difficult persuading the young defender to turn his back on Madrid in favour of playing for an Arsenal side that haven’t been able to defend properly for almost a decade.

That’s not to say I wouldn’t love to see the South American come to Arsenal. I would, as he’s one of the best young centre-backs in Europe, but I’m just not convinced he will make a blind bit of difference to our hopes of challenging for top honours under the current manager.

Basically, it’s almost irrelevant who we sign until we get a fresh approach and new ideas in the team.