Arsenal bidding for German World Cup winner, officials in Germany now
Jul 26, 2016 at 1:43 PM
Arsenal have now believed to have made contact with the agent of German World Cup winner Shkodran Mustafi in the space of the last week as Wenger eager to include defensive reinforcements ahead of the new Premier League season.
According to Italian journalist Emanuele Giulianelli, who has been giving us all the Gunners’ alleged transfer activity this summer, the club has been in touch with Mustafi’s camp.
Giulianelli even mentioned about Arsenal officials’ trip to Germany. At the time he insisted he didn’t specifically know what that had been in connection to, but has now tweeted about the apparent talks over Mustafi.
Last week contacts between Arsenal and the agent of Shkodran Mustafi, German defender. #AFC
— Emanuele Giulianelli (@EmaGiulianelli) July 25, 2016
The 24-year-old, once played for Everton, has now emerged as a top defensive talent after impressing at Sampdoria and Valencia and has been part of German squads at the last two major international tournaments.
Giulianelli also pointed out that Inter Milan’s Colombian international Jeison Murillo is another Arsenal target at centre-back – a key position in which the squad particularly lacks strength.
But neither is apparently a priority. For Giulianelli, the Gunners see wrapping up a deal for a new striker as the most pressing task. The club heavily linked with Mauro Icardi and Alexandre Lacazette, with Gonzalo Higuain, destined for Juventus instead.
Obviously Mustafi isn’t the big deal. He’s an option for CB – though Murillo remains a target. Club want to get forward sorted first #AFC
— Emanuele Giulianelli (@EmaGiulianelli) July 25, 2016
It still, however, remains unclear if Arsene Wenger will indeed sanction a move for either with the kind of big-money price tags that are being talked about.
So far Arsenal have been rather conservative in the transfer market. Granit Xhaka was a big early buy, but only future prospects Takuma Asano and Rob Holding have arrived since, with defender Per Mertesacker even commenting on how the Gunners are falling behind.
“A lot of transfer business has already been done and it won’t be easy for us this time, especially with all the signings going to the other clubs,” he told The Sun.
“So we also need to be stronger and I am looking forward to seeing how well we compete for the title with not a lot of signings and a lot of young players.”