Back when Shkodran Mustafi to Arsenal first began to wobble a bit, after fans of the club had been led to believe a deal was on the way, a couple of alternatives were brought into the equation.
Arsenal yet to agree fee for Mustafi. #AFC considering Omer Toprak & Simon Kjaer as alternatives but Mustafi remains priority & keen to join
— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) August 15, 2016
Omer Toprak and Simon Kjaer both looked like potentially easier, and quite possibly cheaper, targets, but perhaps not as exciting as Mustafi.
Turkish international Toprak has just become more available, with German newspaper Bild saying he could be leaving Bayer Leverkusen for around €23m. That’s about £20m, and affordable for Arsenal, unless there’s something the club are hiding.
The reason Toprak is more available is that Bayer have signed Aleksander Dragovic for €18m plus bonuses. Whilst that may present the question as to why Arsenal didn’t just buy him, more usefully it presents the Toprak availability.
Toprak, 27 years of age, is also heavily interesting Borussia Dortmund.
