Arsenal

Arsenal & Chelsea Enter Race For £11m Defender Who Almost Moved To Anfield

Arsenal and Chelsea are among the clubs interested in signing £11m-rated Schalke defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos – who almost joined Liverpool in the summer.

by
Transfer News Reporter
September 17, 2013

Despite the summer transfer window being closed there is still plenty of gossip in the newspapers, so we’ll keep you up to date on all the latest transfer news. Today, interest in Kyriakos Papadopoulos is mounting ahead of the January transfer window.

Arsenal and Chelsea are among the clubs interested in signing £11m-rated Schalke defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos – who almost joined Liverpool in the summer, according to reports today.

Papadopoulos was heavily linked with a move to Anfield in the summer with reports suggesting he even underwent a strict medical but any deal was put on ice due to doubts over his recovery from a serious knee injury suffered in June.

Brendan Rodgers eventually opted to sign Mamadou Sakho and Tiago Llori so it remains to be seen whether he retains any interest in the Greek international.

However, it seems the 21-year-old has admirers elsewhere in the Premier League with the Express claiming that Arsenal and Chelsea are among a whole host of clubs who are monitoring the players situation ahead of a potential January move.

The newspaper suggests that Schalke are prepared to sell the highly-rated centre-back if they receive a bid of £11m and they name Arsenal as being the new front-runners for his signature with Arsene Wenger understood to be keen on strengthening his backline this winter and the Frenchman is ready to match his asking price as long as he proves his fitness in the coming weeks.

But the north Londoners are expected to face stiff competition with the report also claiming that Man City, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, as well as Chelsea, are also showing a keen interest in the powerful defender.

With Thomas Vermaelen out injured in recent weeks, Wenger has been forced to play first-choice right-back Bacary Sagna as a make-shift centre half. While the Frenchman has been an excellent deputy, bringing in another defender in January would be a wise move and it seems Papadopoulos is under consideration.

Chelsea’s supposed interest is interesting. Jose Mourinho could be on the look-out for a long-term replacement for skipper John Terry and Papadopoulos is in that ‘no nonesense’ mould so could be a good fit.

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