Arsenal plot bargain Noussair Mazraoui January transfer

The transfer window may not have opened yet but the rumour mill is in full swing as Arsenal become linked with a host of players, just as others may be headed for the exit door.

Signing six players last time out for a combined total of around £150m, the deals the club pulled off have already started looking like genius pieces of business.

All of the arrivals have contributed in some capacity, with right-back Takehiro Tomiyasu proving to be one of the most successful of all the additions. The Japan international has taken to Premier League football like a duck to water, showcasing tactical suitability in his role and being more than a match for the physical nature of the division.

He has come into Mikel Arteta’s side and performed his task admirably, so much so that it often goes under the radar how comfortable he is in the role.

Arsenal eye January move for Ajax right-back Noussair Mazraoui on bargain transfer as Leeds also keep tabs on Moroccan defender

Behind him in the pecking order is Cedric Soares, an entirely different profile of player compared to Tomiyasu, with the latter being the perfect fit for the three-man defensive build-up shape that Arsenal look to employ.

The Portuguese defender prefers to play higher up the pitch, where his serviceable technical ability has some use in the final third. After him, though, is Calum Chambers, someone more similar in profile to Tomiyasu, but is desperately below the level needed.

Hector Bellerin is also still an Arsenal player, albeit of the Cedric mould, but when he returns to north London in the summer a sale appears inevitable, as it does for Chambers.

Therefore, as some stage another option will be needed in that department and a name previously linked with a move to north London, Noussair Mazraoui, has emerged once again.

As per ESPN, Arsenal and Leeds are tracking the Moroccan with a view on stealing him from Ajax on a bargain fee in January as he can agree a pre-contract agreement with foreign clubs in the winter.

Despite playing regularly in the Champions League and being part of a title-challenging squad each season, Mazraoui has not been convinced to pen a new contract in Amsterdam ahead of his deal expiring in June 2022, and Ajax may be forced to accept a cut-price deal to avoid losing him for free. Either that, or Arsenal could have a move agreed and in place for the summer when he’ll cost nothing.

There were links to the 24-year-old over the summer but none materialised, and while it did appear as if he would be convinced to sign a new deal at the club he’s been with since the age of eight, there has been little movement in that department.

Is this a move Arsenal should pursue, and would he fit into the squad construction?

Continued on next page…