Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is close to ending his search for a central defender and striker, saying Friday the club is working on deals to sign Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia and Lucas Perez from Deportivo La Coruna.
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The Arsenal boss said of Mustafi’s reported £35-million deal: “When you restart, when you handle some leagues they are [on] holiday, there was the European Championships and nothing happened, you couldn’t find anybody”.
BBC’s respected reporter David Ornstein broke the news on Thursday evening via his twitter account, suggesting Arsenal have met the player’s buyout clause with Transfer Deadline Day just six days away. We had to work very hard to get signings done.
Arsene Wenger admits he had to “restart” Arsenal’s transfer window after the Gunners missed out on their top targets in the transfer market. I’m 99 per cent confident.
It will now be interesting to see what roles that both players have in the Arsenal team moving forward.
Wenger has come under pressure from the club’s fans to bring in new players, with supporters chanting “Spend some money!” during last weekend’s 0-0 draw at Leicester City. “If that makes supporters happy then even better, but my focus is on making right decisions for the club”.
Commenting on the difficulty of signing players, Wenger added: “It was a odd transfer market”. And I think when I told you the transfer is linked of course with talent, the expected strength, but as well with resale.
“Ozil is not physically there completely but what we want from Ozil is assists and goals and I hope he can get that this season, 10 or 15 goals plus the chances he creates”. And that everybody sat on his pounds until now.
For 24-year-old Mustafi a move to Arsenal would mark a return to English football, four years after leaving Everton.
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He said: “Will it affect his future? No”. Let us know in the comments section below. “Yes.” Arsenal, who lost 4-3 at home to Liverpool on the season’s opening day, visit Watford on Saturday.
