It’s not really clear how much money Mikel Arteta will have to work with this summer, but you do expect that Arsenal will be busy in the transfer market.
They did a lot of good work in January to offload some senior players so that frees up a lot of space on the wage bill, while they could still secure Champions League football by winning the Europa League.
MORE: Arteta opens up on Arsenal’s transfer plans
Finding a way to keep Martin Odegaard around has to be a priority, but there could also be an alternative as Goal have indicated that Dortmund will sell Julian Brandt for £21m this summer.
That amount should be affordable to the Gunners who are linked with him in the report, while Brandt can also operate in the wider areas so it doesn’t need to be a case of him or Odegaard either.
That option will still help them in negotiations with Real Madrid if they make it clear they can walk away and sign someone else, while the German midfielder also looks like a good fit.
He’s already played 35 times for Germany despite only being 24 years old so you can see how highly rated he is, while he could also offer another creative outlet in the centre of the park if Dani Ceballos departs in the summer.
Arteta needs to have quality and depth in the squad so signing a player like Brandt makes a lot of sense if they have the money to do it, so he’s a name to look out for when the market opens this summer.
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