Arsenal In Advanced Talks To Wrap-Up Signing Of Spanish Defender

The summer transfer window is now open for business and it’s expected to be a busy few weeks as managers strengthen their squads ahead of next season, so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip. Today, Gooner Mac brings us news of Arsenal’s interest in Javi Manquillo.

Arsenal are on the verge of pulling off their second raid on La Liga in quick succession with the club believed to be in advanced talks with Atletico Madrid to sign Javi Manquillo on loan with an option to buy, according to reports in Spain.

Thursday was an exciting day for Arsenal fans as the club kicked off their summer transfer business with the  long-awaited signing of Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona for a fee believed to be in the region of €45m.

And it looks like Arsene Wenger is set to make his second raid on La Liga with Spanish newspaper AS claiming we are in advanced talks with Atletico Madrid to take young right-back Javi Manquillo on a season-long loan with the option to make the purchase permanent next summer.

The newspaper states that Manquillo was expected to join Marseille but pulled out after we made a late bid to hijack the move and it looks like we’ve been able to persuade the 20-year-old to come to north London.

Obviously we need to strengthen the right-back area following the departure of Bacary Sagna to Manchester City and Manquillo is expected to come in and provide competition to Mathieu Debuchy next season – with the French international close to signing from Newcastle United.

Manquillo has limited first team experience as he was forced to play understudy to Juanfran for much of last season, but he did manage to make 6 starts in the league and has 7 caps for the Spanish under-20 side.

His signing is something of a surprise but it will now put Carl Jenkinson’s future at the club in serious doubt. Jenks is adored by many Arsenal fans because he’s a ‘proper’ Gooner and loves the club like a true fan, but with Manquillo coming in it looks as though Wenger may not feel the 22-year-old is ready to push for the first team.

MORE: SANCHEZ POSES IN ARSENAL SHIRT AFTER COMPLETING €45M MOVE

There have been rumours that Newcastle want to take Jenkinson on loan as part of the Debuchy deal so that could be a possibility if and when the Manquillo deal goes through. Perhaps it would be good for him to get some experience under his belt and re-evaluate things next summer, but I’d be gutted to see him leave on a permanent basis.