Emirates Stadium side ready to make big moves this summer.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is to be handed a £70m transfer warchest and the Daily Mail have compiled a list of ten players they believe are on the Gunners wish-list.
It appears that chief among those Wenger is chasing is a custodian to replace Polish youngster Wojciech Szczesny, who has looked decidedly shaky this season in marked contrast to his efforts last term when he was the undisputed number one between the posts.
Pepe Reina would appear to Arsenal’s number one choice for the job but it could prove tough to persuade Liverpool to sell the Spanish international, especially after a series of quality displays since the turn of the year. Having been at Anfield since 2005 one would imagine it would be tough for the 30 year old to leave for another Premier League side and the former Barcelona man may well be eyeing up a move back to the Nou Camp given that Victor Valdes has stated his intention to leave the Catalan club.
Simon Mignolet, Asmir Begovic and Michel Vorm are three other apparent candidates for a possible Gunners switch and of the three one would imagine moves to sign the Stoke City keeper would be the trickiest given Man United’s apparent interest in the Bosnian international.
It seems after the pursuit of a new keeper Arsene Wenger’s next area of priority is a new attacking option.
The Daily Mail believe despite an unsuccessful attempt to sign the Spanish international last month, David Villa is still very much an Arsenal target.
The 31 year old will have a year to run on his current contract come the summer and this may well mean the former Valencia man would be available for a lesser price as Barcelona look to avoid the prospect of the bit-part player looking to run down his contract and leaving the Nou Camp on a free transfer, we are after all talking about a player that cost the La Liga giants £33m.
Despite his limited involvement in Tito Vilanova’s first team set-up Villa has still managed a very respectable total of 11 goals in just 13 starts in all competitions.
However a move for Fiorentina forward Stevan Jovetic may better suit Arsene Wenger’s youthful transfer policy. The Montenegrin put in another masterful display on the weekend, netting twice as Fiorentina thumped Inter Milan 4-1.
The 23 year old cultured forward certainly suits Arsenal and with Giuseppe Rossi moving to the Serie A side in January there is perhaps scope for a possible move to North London.
Jovetic scored 14 goals in 27 Serie A appearances last term and has ten goals and four assists in 20 appearances in the current campaign.
You would imagine that Arsenal have more than enough creative midfielders, with the likes of Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta among Wenger’s playing staff, however the Daily Mail believe that two top German playmakers are also on the Gunners wish-list.
Borussia Dortmund pair Marco Reus & Mario Gotze are apparently being scouted by Arsenal. Moves to capture either of these German talents would be a tad surprising and would certainly involve the Premier League club having to smash their current transfer record spend.
Reus only moved to the Westfalenstadion in the summer but has been an instant hit, able replacing Man United bound Shinji Kagawa, netting 10 goals and laying on eight assists already this term.
Mario Gotze is also having an excellent season and though Jurgen Klopp’s side may be set to lose their grip on the Bundesliga title it would still be a massive shock if either of these young talents were Arsenal bound.
Arsenal are also well in need of an out and out defensive midfield presence and have earmarked interest in two midfield powerhouses to help fill the void.
The prime target in this department appears to be long term target Etienne Capoue, who appears to have outgrown his Toulouse side and would jump at the chance to move to Arsenal and would clearly not cost a huge sum.
Arsene Wenger is also pursuing Celtic youngster Victor Wanyama who has been most impressive over the past 18 months and his excellent form during the SPL side’s Champions League run has led to a great deal of interest from a number of Europe’s ‘Elite’.