According to French outlet L’Équipe, as per GFFN, Arsenal are interested in signing Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti, but with his price tag reportedly set at around £53million, is he a player who the Gunners should splash the cash on?
Firstly, it’s clear that Arsenal need to sign at least one, possibly two, centre-backs this summer. The Gunners were dreadful at the back at times during the Premier League season and as such, they were unable to secure a place in the top four.
Furthermore, it looks like Laurent Koscielny will be leaving the club, so the Gunners are desperately short at the back, but is Umtiti the man they should be looking to recruit.
Umtiti has found game time hard to come by recently as he’s been ousted by Clément Lenglet and with Barca set to sign Mathijs De Ligt from Ajax, it looks like he’ll be pushed further down the pecking order.
The 25-year-old has plenty of top-level experience and will have a point to prove too. There’s no doubting his quality, but can Arsenal afford to spend over £50million on one player when there are numerous issues to address in the squad?
Quite simply, if they have the money to get Umtiti, they should sign him. Arsenal won’t do anything of note in the league next season without addressing their defence and if it means spending most of the budget to help solve their defensive worries then so be it.
