Arsenal are pushing to complete the signing of Declan Rice ahead of their rivals after the West Ham United captain lifted the UEFA Europa Conference League. The England international is the club’s primary target.
The budget allocated to the club is expected to be heavily focused on the Rice transfer, but the Gunners are still planning to try secure a deal below the £100 million threshold football.london understands. This will of course lower expectations on Rice but give more financial flexibility to secure other players.
There are needs in the midfield even beyond Rice’s acquisition, with the creative midfield and another deep midfielder like Moises Caicedo understood to be desired. However, in defence, there lie further necessities with the likes of Kieran Tierney and Rob Holding expected to move on.
Mikel Arteta and sporting director Edu Gaspar have been looking at full-backs for some time and considered a bid for Real Valladolid’s Ivan Fresneda in January after talks with the player's representatives. All the focus is on the Rice deal at present but Arsenal see Fresneda as a viable summer option and will make a decision whether to step up their pursuit for the Spaniard soon football.london understands.
Borussia Dortmund remain very interested in Fresneda who could be available for less than €20m (£17.2m) after Valladolid’s relegation from La Liga was confirmed. A reasonable figure for a player who has impressed in some key clashes against Vinicius Jr and Raphinha.
There remain other potential targets including RB Leipzig’s Mohamed Simakan. The Frenchman has the benefit of being able to play as both a full-back and right-sided centre-half too.
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Arsenal lost out on crucial points much to do with the injury to William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu. An acquisition like Fresneda would allow Ben White to be a cover for Saliba if the Frenchman was to get injured again.
Additionally, Fresneda offers greater pace and offensive characteristics compared to White, meaning Arteta has great versatility of options and variation in choice when it comes to rotation and substitutions. The transfer window opens officially next week and the Arsenal boss will hope to get the majority of business completed early and before the preseason preparations.
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