Ousmane Diomande, a central defender for Sporting Lisbon, is a target for Arsenal’s summer offer.
Earlier this month, SunSport reported that the Gunners saw the 20-year-old Ivorian when on a reconnaissance trip to watch Sporting vs. Benfica play in Portugal.
The primary purpose of the trip was to see 25-year-old Swedish attacker Viktor Gyokeres in advance of a possible trade for the striker, who has scored 36 goals in 39 games across all competitions thus far.
Diomande, though, also made an impression, and SunSport has learned that Arsenal is weighing their options with regard to a potential deal for the center back.
With a release clause of approximately £68.6 million, Chelsea is expected to challenge them for the player, although with hefty contractual add-ons attached, that price might decrease to £50 million.
In order to give Gabriel and William Saliba, Arsenal’s starting center back duo, more depth and cover, manager Mikel Arteta is looking to bolster his defense.
Diomande is accustomed to playing in wide areas, which Arteta values in his defenders, having spent the majority of this season with Sporting in a back three.
In an ideal world, Arteta would have access to four central defenders at the beginning of the following campaign in addition to Saliba, Gabriel, and Jakub Kiwior.
However, the amount of money they are willing to spend on other areas, like attack, and the amount of money they can raise through sales will determine the amount of any bid.
Gyokeres is one of the players Arsenal is thinking about blowing the cash on as they look to add a No 9 as their top objective heading into the summer.
Ivan Toney of Brentford is also a possibility, but Arteta is probably going to hold off on making a decision about the striker type his club needs until the end of the season, given the possibilities at his disposal.
This season, Kai Havertz has contributed from deeper positions when leading the line, while Gabriel Jesus has missed a significant amount of time due to injury.
Arteta would also like to have a winger to cover Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka.
A summer clear-out could see Aaron Ramsdale, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson, and Cedric Soares depart the team in the interim.