Arsenal are in desperate need of some new defensive talent, with Laurent Koscielny’s recent Achilles injury ruling him out for over six months and overall a very poor season defensively for the North London side, conceding a shocking 51 goals.
Senegalese center back Kalidou Koulibaly has been turning heads across Europe, showing excellent defensive talent and ending up a key player in Serie A’s Napoli side.
There have been reports linking the Arsenal to the defender for weeks now, but now in a recent report by the Mirror, his current team, Napoli, are placing a £88m price tag on the defender which seems very likely to throw Arsenal off the player.
With a depleted budget after failing to qualify for the Champions League for the second season in a row, this deal looks almost off the table unless the incoming manager can work some magic to turn it around.
Kalidou Koulibaly has been an integral part of Napoli’s defence in what has been a brilliant season for the Naples side, who are going to finish 2nd in Serie A, losing their exciting title challenge late in the season to the defending champions Juventus.
Hope is not all lost with several defenders remaining transfer options for the upcoming window including Caglar Soyuncu. The Turkish center back, who is only 21 years old but already the defender is showing himself to be a powerful presence on the pitch. Soyuncu is reportedly very close to signing for Arsenal from his current club Freiburg. The full article on Soyuncu is here.
It is absolutely imperative that Arsenal sign at least one world-class defender in the upcoming transfer window after the last season has seen Arsenal’s defence repeatedly fail under pressure with the club conceding an abysmal 51 goals in the Premier League alone.
Whether the deal for Koulibaly goes ahead or not, with a new manager and a complete overhaul of backroom staff, large transfers look very likely in the Summer, so stay tuned for more news.
