Arsenal are reportedly keen on Atletico Madrid defender, José Maria Gimenez.

According to Sports Illustrated, Arsenal have given up on signing Lazio’s Stefan de Vrij and turned their attention to José Gimenez.

The 23-year-old has ‘re-established himself’ in Atletico’s first team, having made 26 appearances so far this season.

Last term, he made 29 over the course of the entire season.

The centre-back still has until June 2020 on his contract with the La Liga side and, since he’s been there since 2013, a fresh start in a new country may not be out of the question.

Arsenal need a centre-back and while José Gimenez may not be massively experienced, he’s still a first team player for Diego Simeone’s side.

With Shkodran Mustafi only managing the odd solid performance this season despite costing £35m in 2016, Per Mertesacker retiring, Laurent Koscielny being on his last legs and both Calum Chambers and Rob Holding yet to firmly bed into the squad, Arsene Wenger really needs to bring in defensive reinforcements in the summer.

The only fly in the ointment is that, according to El Gol Digital, José Gimenez’s release clause is €65m, which is around £57.3m.

The Mirror report that Liverpool and Manchester United are also interested.