Arsenal Confirm Signing Of Nacho Monreal

Arsenal have finally confirmed the signing of Spain left-back Nacho Monreal from Malaga for an undisclosed fee.

News broke around 7pm that Monreal was in London to undergo a medical and agree personal terms with the Gunners, with the Daily Mail claiming we’d agreed a fee in the region of £8.5m with the Spanish outfit.

After hours of refreshing Twitter and watching Sky Sports News, Arsenal have finally announced the deal on their official website with the 26-year-old signing on a long-term contract.

Monreal is a talented left-back who has earned nine caps for the Spanish national team, which is no mean feat considering they’re World and European champions! At 26-years-old, he’s at the peak of his career and from what i’ve seen of him, we’ve bought an excellent player.

Arsene Wenger has revealed his delight at signing Nacho, telling Arsenal.com:

“We are delighted that Nacho Monreal has agreed to join us. We have been monitoring him for some time now and are really pleased that we’ve been able to agree this move today. Monreal is a strong left-sided defender with good experience at both club and international level. He is a technically gifted player, a good crosser in the final third and strong in the air. Monreal will add quality to our squad and of course, to our defensive unit. We all look forward to him playing for us.”

Defence has quickly become the area for concern in recent weeks after some disastrous displays at the back and our need for reinforcements was heightened when Kieran Gibbs picked up a thigh injury against Liverpool on Wednesday night. That set-back seems to have forced Arsene into making a move for Monreal and we now have proper depth in the left-back area.

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While i’m delighted we’ve signed a talented player, let’s be honest, if Gibbsy didn’t get injured on Wednesday we’d almost certainly have made no signings this month. The squad still looks well short to me and a defensive midfielder and striker should also have been signed this month in my opinion.

But we’re stuck with what we’ve got now, so it’s time to get behind the team and as Arsene says, ‘judge him in May’.

What do Gooners make of the signing of Monreal? Are you happy with Arsenal’s lack of business in the window?