Arsenal will once again "explore the market" this summer following the injury to new defender Jurrien Timber and will have "internal discussions" about whether they should target another centre-back or a full-back, per transfers insider Fabrizio Romano.
Arsenal news – what is the latest?
It's been a brilliant summer of transfers for the Gunners this year. The club came out the gates swinging and secured all three of their priority targets before July 15th, potentially saving themselves from getting into too many of the transfer sagas we've been seeing develop over the last few weeks.
The north Londoners haven't been shy about splashing the cash either, with Kai Havertz setting them back £65m, Timber £34m, and Declan Rice costing a whopping £105m – making him the most expensive British player in history.
Add to that a win on the opening day of the new campaign, and everything was looking rosy, and yet, an injury to their new Dutch defender has seriously dampened a lot of the excitement around the club.
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The former Ajax man went down early in the second half clutching his knee, and with nobody near him, it looked serious. The club have since confirmed that it is a knee injury, but with no return date set, it could be a significant period without him in the team.
With that in mind, it's perhaps no surprise to hear that after internal discussions, the Premier League runners-up are planning to once again "explore" the transfer market for more defensive reinforcements to help the squad in Timber's absence, per transfers expert Fabrizio Romano.
He explained the situation on his YouTube channel, saying:
"Arsenal will explore the market, will discuss internally, Arteta will be involved in conversations because, at the beginning of the market, they looked at the possibility to bring in one more centre-back, a traditional centre-back, more than a versatile centre-back such as Timber who can play everywhere basically in the defence.
"They were looking for example at a player that they appreciate is Aymeric Laporte, this is true. The rumours about Laporte are true in the sense that he's one of the players appreciated by Arsenal, but from what I [have] heard, Man City didn't want to sell one more player to Arsenal; they prefer a different kind of destination for Laporte.
"So lets see if now Arsenal return for Laporte, or if they will go for a full-back instead of replacing Timber with a centre-back. So internal discussion will take place to decide on that point."
Who have Arsenal been linked to?
With the squad looking strong all over the pitch at the moment, the focus will be on the defence to cover for Timber's injury, and according to Tony Robertson of The Sun, there are six names that the club has identified as potential replacements.
One of those is Manchester City's Aymeric Laporte, who Romano confirms is a player "appreciated" by the Gunners. Still, the major stumbling block for this deal is that the treble-winners are reluctant to sell any more players to Mikel Arteta's side following their title race last season.
That said, for the right price, the European champions have shown that they are willing to deal with rivals, so if Arsenal can get a deal agreed for a player Pep Guardiola once described as "special", they absolutely should.
Another name touted for a move to the Emirates by Robertson is Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi, who has seen his stock rise significantly since moving to the South London club.
In his 37 starts in the league last year, the 23-year-old scored one goal, maintained a passing accuracy of 85.5%, won 1.5 aerial duals per game and averaged a match rating of 6.68, all while captaining the team, per WhoScored.
Whether the club decide to push for Laporte, Guehi or someone else entirely, one thing looks certain, Edu and Co will be trying hard to bring in at least one more player to the Emirates before the window slams shut on September 1st.