Brazilian Confirms Arsenal Talks As Wenger Tables €6.5m Offer

With the January transfer in full swing, managers are strengthening their squads ahead of the second half of the season, so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip. Today, Arsenal are linked with Gabriel Paulista….

Brazilian defender Gabriel Paulista has confirmed his agent is in talks with Arsenal ahead of a potential €6.5m move to the Emirates this month, according to  reports.

We’re expected to bring in another central defender this month after our lack of options at the back were exposed when Laurent Koscielny was on the sidelines, with Nacho Monreal and Mathieu Debuchy both having to fill in at centre-back.

Arsene Wenger has confirmed his need to strengthen at the back has been heightened by the recent injury to Debuchy and several names have been linked with a move to the Emirates in recent weeks.

The latest to emerge as a potential target is Villarreal’s Gabriel Paulista and the Mirror claim today that we’ve offered €6.5m (£5m) plus additional add ons for the 24-year-old centre-half.

It remains to be seen whether the in-form La Liga outfit will be prepared to sell one of their key men mid-season but the newspaper suggests that with Villarreal keen on taking Joel Campbell on loan, we may use the Costa Rican as bait to help land the defender.

Campbell is eager to forge a career at Arsenal but with so much competition for places in our attack, he’s going to find regular first team football extremely hard to come by so it would make sense to let him join Villarreal on loan if it meant we could bring in Paulista.

It appears the Brazilian would certainly be up for the move as he admitted to reporters after Saturday’s win over Athletic Bilbao that Arsenal are in talks with his agent about a potential move and it would be ‘excellent’ if a deal could be agreed:

“The subject is being discussed by my agent and the club.”

“If I go to Arsenal it will be excellent. But if it’s not finalised then I am relaxed. I am focused on my work here.”  Paulista is quoted as saying by the Mirror

Paulista joined Villarreal from Brazilian side Vitoria in August 2013 and has been a rock at the back in a team that’s gone unbeaten in Spain since early November 2014.

However, any deal would hinge on him being granted a work permit and that could be difficult considering he’s yet to earn a single cap for the Brazilian senior team and he doesn’t hold an EU passport.

READ MORE –> Arsenal transfer news

It’s almost certain we’ll bring in another centre-back this month but who that player will be is still very-much open to debate. Paulista would be a solid option if we could agree a deal with Villarreal and get a work permit, but I still think Winston Reid of West Ham would be a better choice….