Arsenal Transfer News: Gunners Eyeing Bids For Spanish Defender & Polish Midfielder

With the January transfer window now open for business clubs will be working hard to try and strengthen their squad for the second half of the season, so we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest Arsenal transfer news, gossip and rumours. Today, Arsenal are linked with a Spanish defender and a Polish midfielder.

Wenger eyes Atletico defender

First up and talkSPORT are reporting that Arsenal are keeping a close eye on Atletico Madrid defender Javier Manquillo as Arsene Wenger lines-up potential replacements for Bacary Sagna.

Manquillo began his career in Real Madrid’s youth system before moving the Atletico in 2007 along with his twin brother, Victor. He earned his crust in the B team before breaking in to the first team set-up in 2012 and is pushing for a regular first team place in Diego Simeone’s starting eleven this season.

It appears his impressive form has caught the eye of Gunners boss Arsene Wenger with talkSPORT citing reports coming out of Spain that suggest the Frenchman is monitoring the 19-year-old’s progress ahead of a potential summer move.

With current Arsenal right-back Sagna out-of-contract at the end of the season and yet to agree terms over an extension, it’s understandable that Wenger is thinking about potential replacements and it appears Manquillo is on his radar.

I’m sure the north Londoners priority is to tie Sagna down to a fresh deal as soon as possible, as he’s been superb at the back this season and is a key component in a back four that led us to the top of the Premier League table.

However, should the 31-year-old refuse to commit his future to the Emirates, Wenger will have little option but to sign a replacement and while Manquillo is certainly a huge talent, it would be a massive risk to bring in a youngster with no previous experience in England and expect him to fill the void left by a player of Sagna’s quality.

We do have Carl Jenkinson waiting in the wings, so perhaps if Wenger does end up signing the Spanish under-21 international, then he’ll be considered as back-up to Jenks with the former Charlton youngster promoted to the first team.

Shock move for Furman?

Next up and the Daily Mail are reporting that Wenger is also keen on signing relatively unknown Polish midfielder Dominik Furman.

I must admit I know little about this player but from my research, it seems he’s a defensive midfielder who currently plays for Legia Warsaw with the 21-year-old a regular in the Polish outfits first team – making 24 appearances so far this season.

Furman has also been a regular in the Polish under-21 side and has 2 senior caps to his name so far in his career, and the Mail claims that we’ve been watching him ahead of a potential summer bid.

I’m not too sure what to make of this report, but I personally hope it’s nothing more than idle newspaper speculation. We’re well stocked in midfield at present so I don’t really know where he’d fit in if we did sign him. We already have Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini to fill the defensive midfield roles and when either need to be replaced, I’d hope the boss is more ambitious with his targets than to sign an unknown and unproven youngster from Poland.

So there’s your latest transfer news. Nothing that’s going to take your breath away but there’s still plenty of time left for us to do some business this month.

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