Arsenal Plot £15m Defender Bid But Wenger Lines-Up PL Trio As Alternatives

The summer transfer window is in full swing so we’ll bring you all the latest transfer rumours and gossip from around the globe. Today, more on Arsenal’s centre-back hunt….

Arsenal are plotting a £15m bid for Shkodran Mustafi but Arsene Wenger has lined-up three Premier League centre-back’s as alternatives in case he can’t agree a deal with Valencia, according to the Daily Mail.

Wenger is desperately trying to bring in another central defender before the start of the new season after Per Mertesacker was ruled out for at least five months with a serious knee injury.

Mustafi has emerged as the bosses prime target with Sky Sports News reporting last month that we had opened talks with Valencia over a potential deal for the German international.

The 24-year-old was left out of Valencia’s pre-season clash with Bournemouth last night and with the La Liga giants training near to London Colney while on their pre-season tour of England, talks are expected to escalate over the coming days.

The Daily Mail claim that Wenger is lining-up an opening £15m offer for the defender and say that Mustafi would be keen to hold formal talks with the Gunners about a move to north London.

However, with Valencia’s asking price thought to be nearer £25m, the newspaper suggests that the boss has lined-up three back-up options in case we can’t get a deal agreed for Mustafi.

The Mail claim that the three alternatives all ply their trade in the Premier League with West Brom’s Jonny Evans, Swansea’s Federico Fernandez and Crystal Palace skipper Scott Dann all understood to be on Wenger’s radar.

Evans appears to be the front-runner as the paper says that Arsenal stepped-up their interest in the Northern Ireland centre-back after sending a scout to watch West Brom’s friendly with Torquay on Monday night.

I personally don’t rate Evans and would be hugely disappointed if he’s the player we end up going for. Dann and Fernandez are decent Premier League defenders but I’m not convinced they’ve got the quality we need either.

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Mustafi is the stand-out candidate and we need to do all we can to get a deal agreed as the German would be an excellent addition. Not only would he replace Mertesacker but he could form an excellent partnership with Koscielny.