Arsenal slumped to yet another defeat at the weekend, this time a 2-1 loss to Everton as Yerry Mina powered a header home from a poorly defended corner.
The result only puts more pressure on Mikel Arteta, who is coming to the end of his first year as Arsenal manager. There are also increasing questions of the squad, which has been cobbled together in recent years via different regimes and managers.
As such, Arsenal face a potentially pivotal January transfer market in which they will be keen to provide Arteta with the talent to turn around his current poor fortunes. With that in mind, here is a round-up of the latest Arsenal transfer rumours.
Gomez available on cut-price deal
Valencia striker Maxi Gomez could be available next month in a cut-price deal as the Spanish club scramble to raise funds.
Valencia sold eight first-team players in the summer, and president Anil Murthy admitted that more sales would come in January as the club attempts to get to grips with their financial problems.
"Two difficult years await us and there will be additional sales of players," he said, per Spanish outlet AS via the Mirror.
One such sale could be Gomez, who has a £125 million release clause in his contract. The report states that the Uruguayan has been on Arsenal's radar. He has four goals in 12 La Liga matches this season.
Real Madrid enter Bissouma race
Real Madrid have reportedly entered the race to sign Brighton star Yves Bissouma, whose impressive start to the season is said to have attracted interest from Arsenal and Chelsea.
The 24-year-old has played all 90 minutes in all-but three of Brighton's Premier League matches this season, Spanish outlet Defensa Central via the Express reports that Zinedine Zidane is keen on adding the mobile midfielder as he retools an ageing squad.
Brighton signed Bissouma in 2018, but Graham Potter says that he is not concerned about losing him next month.
"I have never been a coach that worries about losing a player," said the Brighton boss as reported by the Express. "If you worry about losing players to teams higher up the hierarchy, because that’s ultimately what it is, and the club think selling the player is the right thing to do, then it’s a result of doing something well.
"I don’t think you should ever worry about that. It’s part of football and a lot of it is talk, speculation or nonsense. There’s always truth as well somewhere, but I am not worried about anything. I am just helping the players to improve, to get them to the highest level of performance that I can and then we will see."
Fenerbahce hold Ozil talks
Turkish outlet Takvim reports that Fenerbahce have held talks regarding a January move for Mesut Ozil, who has not featured for Arsenal since lockdown and is in the final year of his contract.
The report states that Fenerbahce's sporting director Emre Belozoglu was in London last week to discuss what terms Fenerbahce would need to meet to sign Ozil.
Ozil has been frozen out at Arsenal. He was not named in the Premier League or Europa League squads and has not played a single minute since March.
He is expected to leave the club at the end of his contract next summer, though he could secure an earlier exit next month. The former German international is free to formally discuss terms with overseas teams from January.
