In an interesting turn of events, French TV channel SFR Sport report that Arsenal have contacted Barcelona in the hopes of acquiring French centre-back Jeremy Mathieu from the Spanish giants.
In the past couple of days, there have been many rumours flying around which suggested that Valencia’s Shkodran Mustafi was the top target for the Gunners and there was talk that the player had agreed to terms with the north London club, but now it seems as though that might not be the case.
The report linking Arsenal with Mathieu is a very confusing one, as Mustafi, who has been one of the top defenders in La Liga ever since he moved to Valencia after winning the World Cup with Germany in 2014, would not come at too steep a price, especially in the current market.
Arsenal would only have to fork over £20million for the German, but it appears that manager Arsene Wenger wants his older compatriot, Mathieu, instead.
Mathieu is 32-years-old, which is eight years older than Mustafi. The main advantage about Mathieu, though, is that he is left-footed and has a lot of experience at left-back, which was his main position before he joined Barcelona.
Recently, his main position has been on the bench due to the club having too much talent in front of him and his relatively poor play at the Camp Nou.
The only reason that this possible move would make sense is the fact that he is a left-footed centre-back, a commodity that Wenger has not had at his disposal since the days of Thomas Vermaelen. Other than that, the only advantage Mathieu has over Mustafi is height: the Frenchman is 6’4″ while the German is merely 6’0″.
For years, players in their 30’s have never gotten contracts for more than one year at Arsenal, which would possibly be a deal-breaker for Mathieu as he would not have the security of a multi-year contract. If the price is right for the versatile defender, then there should be no complaints by fans for the club adding needed depth, but if he costs as much as Mustafi, then fans could end up rioting.
With Per Mertesacker and Gabriel out for a few months, the club are clearly desperate for a reliable centre-back. The problem is, it does not look like Mathieu is reliable enough to start for a few months at a time, but if he signs and proves fans’ statements about him to be false, then he will be more than welcome at the club.
