Arsenal Face Competition From Tottenham Over Signing Of £8.7m La Liga Star

The January transfer window is now closed but we can still look at deals that failed to get across the line and those being lined-up for the summer. Today, Arsenal and Tottenham are linked with Florian Lejeune…

Arsenal will face competition from rivals Tottenham Hotspur over the signing of £8.7m-rated Eibar centre-back Florian Lejeune this summer, according to the Mirror.

Lejeune has only recently found some consistent form as he struggled to settle during spells at Villarreal, Brest and Girona while he also spent a season with Manchester City in 2015 before joining Eibar last summer in a £1.3m deal.

The 25-year-old has finally established himself in Spain as he’s been one of the key players for Eibar this season with his superb performances at the back helping the club to their current eighth place standing in the La Liga table.

Lejeune’s form attracted interest from Arsenal with Marca [via the Mirror] reporting earlier this week that the Gunners were ready to trigger his £8.7m release clause this summer.

The report indicated that Arsene Wenger has been tracking Lejeune this season and is ready to make his move after receiving several glowing reports on the defender from his scouts.

Despite doubts over his own future, it seems Wenger is pressing ahead with transfer plans this summer and it appears Lejeune is one of the Frenchman’s prime targets.

However, it looks as though Arsenal will now face stiff competition from their local rivals as the Mirror are reporting today that Tottenham are also showing a keen interest in Lejeune.

The newspaper claims that Mauricio Pochettino is looking to bring in another centre-back with Kevin Wimmer expected to leave in search of regular first team football and the Spurs boss has identified Lejeune as a potential replacement.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this develops but I personally don’t see Lejeune as being able to command a first team place at either of the north London giants any time soon.

Arsenal splashed out big money on Shkodran Mustafi to partner Laurent Koscielny last summer while Pochettino has Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderwerield and Eric Dier as his back three.

READ MORE –> Arsenal transfer news | Spurs transfer news

Therefore, if Lejeune does end up moving to either Arsenal or Tottenham this summer I suspect he’ll have to settle for a squad role next season, which might not be ideal considering he’s only just found his form at Eibar, so he has a big decision to make over what’s best for his career.