Arsenal’s 66-year old French manager Arsene Wenger has finally confirmed that the club is in talks for Valencia’s German centre-back Shkodran Mustafi.
Arsene Wenger has vowed to splash the cash after his side were held to a 0-0 draw by champions Leicester.
The draw incensed the traveling Arsenal support who were heard chanting with anger at full-time insisting Wenger to spend money in this summer transfer window which will come to an end in another 10 days.
And it seems Arsene Wenger has finally broken his silence on the transfer front, stating that he hopes that a deal for Shkodran Mustafi is completed as soon as possible.
Arsenal has been heavily linked with a move for the 24-year old centre-back but is yet to agree on a fee with Valencia over the player’s transfer. In a very recent interview Wenger told French TV station SFR Sport:
‘Mustafi? We hope it will be done. He is one of a number of players we are looking at’
‘We are struggling to find the players we need, but we must be responsible.
‘Mustafi is one of a number of players we are looking at, but, yes, negotiations are ongoing.’
However, according to latest reports from the Daily Mirror Arsene Wenger has been quoted a staggering £50million in order to lure Mustafi to the Emirates stadium. And Arsenal’s chief transfer negotiator Dick Law has reportedly gone to Spain to try to broker a deal, with Mustafi still their No.1 defensive target but Wenger is also looking at other options.
His other options are namely West Brom’s Jonny Evans, Fenerbache’s Simon Kjaer and Omer Toprak of Bayer Leverkusen with Atletico Madrid’s ‘costly’ defender Jose Gimenez also being monitored.
A positive point for Arsenal is that Valencia may be forced into selling their star center back, in order to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations. Despite the financial pressure, the Spanish side has still bought Portuguese winger Nani and Spanish midfielder Mario Suarez, but the club’s sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch has admitted that his club will have to balance their books in order to get them officially registered.
Hence Arsenal might get him for a decent bid (of around £10-12m) less than the original ‘£50m’ price tag set for him by his current employers. It is still unknown as to how much Wenger will be interested in bidding for his current primary target after an initial bid of £25m was rejected earlier this month.
Thus we can conclude by saying that we have an interesting but anxious last 10 days of the exciting summer transfer window.
