Yesterday, we covered a story from Le360 in Morocco claiming that Arsenal were interested in Juventus’ Mehdi Benatia.
The story made sense on the basis he could be an alternative if Sokratis Papastathopoulous wasn’t signed, but Corriere dello Sport’s Thursday mention of the very same desire to sign him suggests that it could be an ‘as well as’ transfer rather than an ‘instead of’.
However, while Le360 said Arsenal’s interest didn’t leave the Morocco international ‘indifferent’, Corriere dello Sport believe Marseille in France have the upper hand, and would be the centre-back’s destination of choice.
Benatia is a fan of Rudi Garcia, having played under him at AS Roma during the 2013 season, and the Ligue 1 side were the club where he spent much of his youth despite never making an appearance for the first-team.
At 31 years of age, this could be the ideal time to move back to his old club while still playing in the same European competition as Arsenal next year.
The price mentioned in Corriere’s article is the same as Le360’s, with the Italian newspaper believing a fee of around €25-30m should do the trick.
