With Laurent Koscielny’s recent Achilles injury ruling him out for six months and overall a very poor season defensively for the Gunners, many fans believe a new Center-Back is a vital purchase for the upcoming transfer window.
This season alone, Arsenal have conceded 51 goals, which is the most Arsene Wenger has ever conceded in a single season. Whichever manager comes in, a change must be made defensively.
Kalidou Koulibaly has been a key part of Napoli’s defence in what has been a brilliant season for the Naples side, who are set to finish 2nd in Serie A, losing their ambitious title challenge late in the season to the defending champions Juventus.
The Senegalese international has been the center of several clubs’ attention in the past few years, with Chelsea showing reportedly pursuing the player but signing David Luiz instead of him due to financial concerns.
Standing at 6’4 the Centre-half would certainly help with Arsenal’s aerial ability to score and defend at set-pieces.
According to reports in the Express, Napoli have set a £53 million price tag on the 26-year-old which may be threatening to derail Arsenal’s bid. Missing out on Champions League qualification and finishing a lowly 6th in the Premier League in a frustrating end to the season will leave the new manager with a heavily depleted transfer budget.
Whether the North London club would be willing to shell out a very large portion of the budget for one player will be the deciding factor in this bid’s chances of taking place.
With Max Allegri spending a huge $492,550,000 since joining Juventus in the 2014/15 season, his free-spending may mean if he is the new manager this deal looks very likely.
On the other hand, the other favourite for the job, Mikel Arteta has an unproven managerial style which may go either way with the 36-year-old potentially wanting to overhaul the squad but with it being much more likely the ex-Arsenal player would want to be fairly conservative with his spending on his return to the club due to huge pressure mounting on the Spaniard.
Any transfers which may be in the pipeline now will be largely dependent on whom the board appoints as the new manager in the coming weeks. Will we see the
