Sven Mislintat wants Arsenal to sign players in four different positions this summer, according to reports, in what is shaping up to be a significantly busier window than last year.
Last summer, Arsenal only signed Sead Kolašinac and Alexandre Lacazette, despite a number of high profile sales.
The Daily Mail write that the new head of recruitment at the club has identified the four areas he thinks Arsenal need to strengthen this time around, to help them push on next season.
Let’s take a look at each one:
2Centre-back
Arsenal have a number of centre-back options at the moment, but none that are really making a good case to be a starting pairing.
Laurent Koscielny has been well below his best in recent months, and Shkodran Mustafi has generally performed even worse. Calum Chambers has also looked a bit shaky.
Like Ospina and Čech, the three of them have had a much better week, and hopefully that continues for the rest of the campaign. Even if it does though, their inconsistent form and injury problems are concerning.
Per Mertesacker is retiring at the end of the season, so Arsenal are one centre-back down before the window even opens.
Nacho Monreal seems to have reversed his position change from full-back to centre-back, and is now back out on the left. The Spaniard can’t maintain his fitness any better than the others, anyway.
That leaves Rob Holding and Konstantinos Mavropanos, who are both still a bit young to be first choice.
What Arsenal really lack is an experienced defender who could form a consistent partnership with one of the current options for the foreseeable future.
With any luck, that’s what Mislintat has in mind for a replacement.