The Evening Standard are reporting that Arsenal will beat German club Bayern Munich for the signature of high rated Turkish centre-back Caglar Soyuncu.
What’s the story?
The 21-year-old centre-back signed for Freiburg two years ago from the Turkish second tier and he has impressed in the Bundesliga since arriving.
Arsenal have reportedly been monitoring the youngster since his youth days at Altinordu, in Turkey.
They are in the hunt to freshen up their defence, which has been heavily criticised for a number of years.
In a bid to introduce some youth into their team, the Gunners signed Konstantinos Mavropanos in January, who made his debut in the recent 2-1 loss to Manchester United.
According to Transfermarkt, Soyuncu is rated at £10.8m.
Should Arsenal gamble on this youngster?
For most of the Premier League era, Arsenal have tried to avoid spending millions on players. Instead, they have tried to be shrewd in the transfer market. This has sometimes worked wonders – think Theirry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp. But it has also not worked so well – think Amaury Bischoff, Marouane Chamakh and Denilson.
Rated at £10.8million, Soyuncu would not break the bank. He has shown, in glimpses at Freiburg that he is a very capable defender but he has also been sent off twice this season.
The last thing Arsenal need is to sign a defender who will struggle in the Premier League. Currently, their choice in defence does not inspire confidence.
An ageing Peter Cech is supported by injury-prone Laurent Koscielny, Shokdran Mustafi, Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Mavropanos.
Whoever the next manager is at Arsenal will need to make defence the priority and signing a relatively unknown defender, without any Premier League experience would be a step in the wrong direction.
In reality, there aren’t many choices for Arsenal to go for. They could break the bank for Raphael Varane or Konstas Manolas. Or they could take a slight gamble on James Tarkowski or Ben Mee, who have both enjoyed excellent seasons at Burnley.
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