Emirates Stadium side earmark moves to fill areas in great need of improvement.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is ready for a busy summer of transfer dealings having identified three areas of his squad that are in most need of fixing.
The Daily Mail claim that Wenger wants to bring in ‘three or four’ top level signings during the next transfer window as the Gunners boss looks to put an end to what is more than likely to be an eight season run without silverware.
Among the areas of improvement Wenger wants to address is a push to bring in a proven experienced keeper. To this end the North London club have been linked with a number of targets with the most oft mentioned being Spanish pair Pepe Reina and Victor Valdes.
Liverpool custodian Reina may be upset at the lack of Champions League football at Anfield but looks happy to remain at the Merseyside club in the short term and it may prove more plausible that a move for Barcelona keeper Valdes would bear fruit.
The experienced Nou Camp goalie has stated his intention to leave the Catalan club and could see a move to Arsenal as one worth pursuing.
Wenger also wants to bring in a holding midfielder to help add steel to a midfield that is jam packed with creative talent, so much so that former Everton playmaker Mikel Arteta has has to be converted into a more defensive role to make up for the lack of an out and out defensively minded midfielder, it’s a stop gap solution that hasn’t really worked.
Top of the list of targets to fill this post would appear to be Toulouse youngster Etienne Capoue, with the 24 year old continually linked with interest from the Emirates Stadium side, and clearly Wenger is not averse to shopping in Ligue 1.
Perhaps top of Wenger’s summer spending agenda is the need to strengthen his strike-force and this source believes that Fiorentina’s Stevan Jovetic is top of the pile of Arsenal targets to fill this role.
The 23 year old Montenegro international is the sort of flair player that would fit in well in Arsene Wenger’s starting eleven.
The Serie A forward can play both in a supporting striker role or as the lead attacker and Jovetic has continued to grow in this central role over the past 18 months, netting 14 goals in 27 matches last term and has managed 11 in 21 appearances during the current campaign.
Arsene Wenger will also opt to scrap Arsenal’s wage ceiling in the hope of attracting bigger name signings. Currently the club’s top earners, Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott, command a salary in the region of £90k a week but the Gunners will look to offer as much as £150k to land their top targets this summer.