Unai Emery eyes Arsenal swoop for World Cup winner, could be forced to spend close to £22m

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Unai Emery will be hoping to enjoy a positive start to life at Arsenal next season, and key to making that happen is strengthening his squad this summer.

After missing out on Champions League football for back-to-back campaigns, the Gunners evidently need reinforcements to improve the quality within the group.

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The Spanish tactician has wasted little time in making a new signing after being appointed as Arsene Wenger’s successor last month, with Arsenal set to snap up veteran right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner on a free transfer, as per BBC Sport.

However, it’s now been suggested that he could look to bring in attacking quality too as Sky Sports claim that the Gunners, Everton and West Ham are keen on Borussia Dortmund forward Mario Gotze, with the Bundesliga giants said to potentially want to make back the £22m they spent on him.

The 26-year-old was famously part of the Germany squad that won the World Cup four years ago, scoring the winning goal in the final against Argentina.

However, ill-health has seen him struggle to replicate that form since, as he bagged just two goals and seven assists in 32 appearances for Dortmund last season.

Nevertheless, that seemingly hasn’t put Arsenal off expressing an interest, and so it remains to be seen whether or not a deal is done for the German international in the coming months.

It does seem like an unnecessary signing in truth though, as Emery already has quality attacking options at his disposal.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan will likely form the core of his line-up in the final third, and so that would suggest he could focus his attention elsewhere to strengthen the squad where it’s actually needed, particularly in defence based on Arsenal’s defensive record last year.

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