Sven Mislintat wants Arsenal to sign a centre-back as one of four positions he’s looking to strengthen this summer according to reports, but who are the available options?

We recently covered reports of the four areas Arsenal’s new head of recruitment wants to strengthen over the summer, which you can check out here.

One of these areas was in the back line, as the club look to replace and reinforce a group that are mostly ageing, injury prone, retiring or inexperienced.

So who could the club look to target this summer?

1Daniele Rugani

Daniele Rugani
  • Age: 23
  • Current club: Juventus
  • Contract until: 2021
  • Market value: £18m

Rugani is a young defender who has a few years of experience learning from the likes of Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Leonardo Bonucci, playing for one of the biggest teams in Europe. It doesn’t get much better than that in terms of learning your defensive trade.

According to the player’s agent, Arsenal showed an interest in the centre-back in January, but didn’t make an official offer at the time. We’ll see if they decide to go back in the summer.

Despite his age, Rugani already caught the eye of a lot of fans and critics.

In 2015, Don Balon named him as one of the best young players in the world. He is an intelligent player, who prefers to win the ball with his positioning, rather than diving in.

He keeps his focus well, and has a very good eye for a pass. As we know, passing is a key trait if you’re going to play in defence for Arsenal.

If Mislintat wants to freshen up the defence without taking a big hit to the back-line’s level of top European experience, Rugani could be the answer.

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