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Football London
Football London
Sport
Aaron Catterson-Reid

Arsenal 'tracking' £25m-rated star as Mikel Arteta looks to repeat Pep Guardiola transfer trick

Arsenal have been of the busiest Premier League teams in the summer transfer window so far.

Technical director Edu has splashed in excess of £80million on American goalkeeper Matt Turner, Portuguese midfielder Fabio Vieira, young Brazilian winger Marquinhos and talented frontman Gabriel Jesus. However, the north London club are still very much active in the transfer market and football.london understands that the Gunners are keen to bolster the left side of their defence providing they can offload a number of fringe players.

Ajax star Lisandro Martinez and Benfica fullback Alex Grimaldo have both been heavily linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium and now Wolfsburg youngster Maxence Lacroix is the latest defender to be mooted as a potential target. French outlet Media Foot have claimed that Arsenal are tracking the progress of the former France Under-20 international, who is valued between €20million-€30million (£17million- £25million) by CIES Football Observatory.

READ MORE: Arsenal and Man United 'interested' in signing defender and it's not Lisandro Martinez

If the Gunners were able to sign the 22-year-old this summer, they would have four top-quality centre-backs in the form of William Saliba, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes and Lacroix competing for just two positions. The Times reported earlier this summer that manager Mikel Arteta is keen to have two good options for each position given the implementation of five substitutes in the Premier League next season.

This is a similar strategy that Manchester City have followed during Pep Guardiola's time at the Etihad Stadium. Comparatively, Guardiola has Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nathan Ake at his disposal in the centre of defence.

Speaking about the Citizens' squad back in 2017, former City star Fabian Delph said: "It's a tremendous squad - we've got two players for every position. That's very healthy.

"It always helps to have a squad, it gives you the opportunity to rotate and give the lads that need a rest a rest."

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