Arsenal hold transfer advantage for French defender

Arsenal may have just concluded a busy January of business but their sights are already set on the summer as they hold the advantage for Eintracht Frankfurt’s Evan N’Dicka.

Three centre-backs were moved on in some capacity during the winter to ease the strain of a bloated squad, as Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis left permanently while William Saliba secured a loan move to Nice.

Two were necessary departures who had no futures under Mikel Arteta, with the other needing regular minutes for the remainder of the season to get him battle-ready for the 2021/22 campaign.

A long overdue overhaul, the reality was that the window centered around untangling to knots of past regimes. Arteta has a vision for where the squad should be in order to challenge back at the right end of the Premier League table, and now much of that work has been done, the rebuild can begin to take shape.

Arsenal have transfer advantage over Tottenham for Eintracht Frankfurt defender Evan N’Dicka

As per SportBILD in Germany, left-sided centre-back Evan N’Dicka is being tracked by the Gunners ahead of a potential summer move. Arsenal have connections with his agent, Michael N’Cho Ibou, who acted as an intermediary on the Nicolas Pepe deal, while the 21-year-old also dropped a huge hint about his future when he responded by selecting himself for an online fan poll over who Arsenal’s next signing should be.

Southampton and Tottenham are also keen, but the above puts the Gunners in a stronger position. That pulling power, eh?

The French Under-21 international – N’Dicka would probably be in with a shout of a senior call-up if Les Bleus didn’t have 3,000 outstanding central defenders – is highly rated over in Germany and has been a mainstay in Frankfurt’s side ever since moving there in 2018.

After battling his way back from ligament damage over the summer, the Frenchman has returned to the side and lost just once in ten Bundesliga matches, albeit the side were already in fine form.

Operating on the left of a back three, his versatility means he can play the Kieran Tierney-esque third centre-back role and even fill in on the right.

With David Luiz‘s deal running out in the summer and Calum Chambers likely to be moved on, there will be space for another arrival even with Saliba due back from his Ligue 1 loan spell.