What's the latest transfer news at Arsenal?
Despite the summer transfer window now being closed, Edu and Mikel Arteta are assessing their options ahead of January and have already been linked with moves for the likes of Santos striker Marcos Leonardo, Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot and Wolves winger Pedro Neto, but they are also progressing with deals in-house.
The Gunners are working on completing business closer to home, where having secured the long-term services of captain Martin Odegaard, Fabrizio Romano has revealed that they are now ready to advance in talks over improved terms for Ben White.
Whilst a deal failed to materialise before September 1st, Sporting CP’s Ousmane Diomande was the subject of an approach from the top flight side in June, and even though they later saw a £30m offer rejected, that hasn’t stopped chiefs from wanting to take a second bite of the cherry for the centre-back at the start of the new year.
Are Arsenal signing Ousmane Diomande?
Speaking to GiveMeSport, Dean Jones, who is a journalist and transfer insider, confirmed that Arsenal are closely monitoring the situation of Diomande, though it's currently unknown whether he would be open to the switch. He said:
“They'll always continue to look at this because they want to make sure that they evolve and they're after the best young talent. Diomande is a player who has helped Sporting go top of the league in Portugal this week, so he's currently so young and playing in a team top of the table and really establishing himself in that setup.
“So he won't just be on Arsenal's radar, he'll be on a few team's radar at the moment and they are being scouted quite a bit over there at Sporting. We know that this is a league and a club that gets targeted a lot by top Premier League sides. So he is definitely somebody that they've got an eye on for now.Whether he’d be willing to make that move, I'm not so sure, because he is looking pretty comfortable in a team that are doing very well. But as a long-term target, I can definitely see why Arsenal would want him.”
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How tall is Ousmane Diomande?
Standing at 6 foot 2, Diomande is an absolute rock and provides an excellent physical presence at the heart of a backline, something which he’s already shown following his impressive start to the new season at Sporting CP.
The Prosport client, who is still just 19 years of age, has won ten tackles so far over the course of the current campaign which is the joint best in his squad, via FBRef, not to mention that he’s also averaging 2.1 aerial wins per game in Liga Portugal.
Diomande, who has been dubbed an “Ivorian Jewel” and "one of the most exciting CB prospects in Europe" by football talent scout Jacek Kulig, even has a positive impact at the opposite end of the pitch having posted four contributions (three goals and one assist) in 25 appearances since joining, so this is a deal that would make sense to pursue for such a well-rounded young player.
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