With Arsenal’s current centre-back options proving particularly injury-prone at the moment, we may well see the club dip into the market for replacements in January.
Laurent Koscielny, Arsenal’s best defender for a number of seasons, is still yet to play a match for the first team this campaign, and we have no idea how he’ll perform when he does return. Konstantinos Mavropanos is in a similar boat, with injuries denying him any competitive minutes so far.
Meanwhile, Sokratis Papastathopoulos only played his first league game in two months over the weekend.
If Arsenal indeed decide they need defensive reinforcements in January, let’s have a look at who they’ve been linked with for the winter window:
1Eric Bailly
- Age: 24
- Position: Centre-Back
- Contract until: 2020
- Club: Manchester United
- Estimated transfer value: £27m
Reports this month suggest Jose Mourinho is ‘ready to sell’ Eric Bailly, as the Manchester United manager looks to free up some space for a replacement centre-back. Sky Sports called the centre-back ‘out of favour’ in Manchester, and say defensive reinforcements might be on Arsenal’s radar.
The Telegraph write that Mourinho is ‘prepared to cash in’ on Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo to bring in a new defender. It’s reportedly not clear whether Manchester United are in favour of the sale or not, particularly after Mourinho failed to convince them to sell Anthony Martial over the summer.
If Bailly does leave, the Express write that Arsenal have been touted with a move for him. Unai Emery knows the 24-year-old pretty well from his time in Spain, as the Ivory Coast international played for Espanyol and Villarreal whilst Emery was with Sevilla.
With Villarreal, the defender was massively impressive, and a big part of the La Liga side’s fantastic defensive record in 2015/16. For whatever reason, he’s never quite been able to consistently rediscover that form with United. Still so young for a centre-back, perhaps a move would help him get back to his best.
Click ‘Next’ for more centre-backs linked with a January move to Arsenal