With David Luiz set to leave Arsenal on a free at the end of the season, as well as witnessing a leaky defence throughout the season, it’s no surprise to hear that Mikel Arteta wants a new centre-back brought in.
Whether he fully trusts William Saliba when he returns from his loan at OGC Nice remains to be seen, but one man the Spaniard seemingly has his eye on is Edmond Tapsoba, currently at Bayer Leverkusen.
The 22-year-old has become something of a star at his current club, featuring in 39 appearances in all competitions for the Bundesliga side, and been linked to big clubs already.
Signed for £16.2m back in January 2020, the Burkina Faso international would be rather costly, as previous reports suggested an ‘astronomical fee’ would be needed to convince Leverkusen to let him go.
#Arsenal ha manifestato forte interesse nei confronti del centrale difensivo del #BayerLeverkusen Edmond #Tapsoba. Il giocatore è molto corteggiato ma i #gunners sono al momento i favoriti per arrivare al difensore. #AFC @tvdellosport #transfers
— Gianluigi Longari (@Glongari) May 25, 2021
Either way, Gianluigi Longari, a journalist for SportItalia, has taken to Twitter on Tuesday to reveal that Arsenal have ‘manifested a strong interest’ in Tapsoba, and while the player is ‘strongly courted’ by other clubs, the Gunners ‘are at the moment the favourites to get to the defender’.
Where that money for the ‘astronomical fee’ is coming from, however, no one seems to know.
Either that, or Leverkusen were simply posturing in March ahead of the transfer window.
