Arsenal are looking to strengthen in the full-back areas this summer and as a result, plenty of names have been linked.
football.london understands that technical director Edu will look to sign at least one attacker, a central midfielder and a fullback whilst the likes of Eddie Nketiah, Alexandre Lacazette and Bernd Leno are all expected to leave the club at the end of the current campaign.
Although much of the attention will be on how the Gunners are shaping up going forward, because of Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu's respective injury issues this season, they also need defensive reinforcements. On the list of targets, is Scottish left-back Hickey is one name that has caught the attention of Mikel Arteta and Edu. However, another name who's been linked is Getafe full-back, Mathias Olivera.
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According to TuttoMercatoWeb, as cited by Sport Witness, Arsenal have become the latest club to join the chase for the defender, with Napoli and at least two other clubs said to have made a bid for his services. The Serie A side were said to have agreed on a fee worth €11million (£9.3million), plus €3million-€4million (£2.5million-£3.4million) in bonuses, but the report has suggested that as a result of the competition, that fee has now increased to an immediate payment of €20million (£17million).
Although there's no indication that a move to the Gunners is at all close, Arsenal fans will be wondering about just how much he can improve Arteta's squad moving forward. With that in mind, football.london has taken a brief look at his career so far.
Club career
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Olivera is a graduate of Nacional. After progressing through the youth setup, he made his professional debut in 2016. He played just once more for the club, as in December of that year, he was bought outright by his agent Daniel Fonseca and assigned to Atenas de San Carlos in the Segunda Division.
He was close to joining Galatasaray in June 2017, but despite passing a medical, he eventually opted not to sign a contract. Instead, he signed a six-year contract at La Liga outfit Getafe. Despite a brief loan to Albacete, he's since become a regular in Spain.
International career
Olivera was part of the Uruguay team that won the 2017 South American Under-20s Championship and finished fourth at the 2017 FIFA Under-20s World Cup.
He made his senior team debut on 27 January 2022 in a 1–0 win against Paraguay after being named in the preliminary squad for their FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
