Arsenal: 7 rumoured transfer targets in January window

In case anyone wasn’t aware, the January transfer window is open for business. It’s actually nearly a third of the way through and, as of yet, Arsenal have not brought anyone in.

They weren’t actually expected to. Not really. It was set to be a window of mainly outgoings with the fringe members of the squad set to leave either on loan or permanently.

Things change quickly.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s ill-discipline and subsequent loss of the captain’s armband has thrown a continent-sized spanner in the works, with the quest to sign a striker in the summer fast-tracked to the winter.

Arsenal: 7 rumoured transfer targets in January window as Mikel Arteta eyes reinforcements in both midfield and at striker

Midfield was also set to be thin with AFCON taking place, so the decision to loan Ainsley Maitland-Niles out further depleted the ranks to prompt another scramble towards the finish line. Arsenal need a striker, and a midfielder.

Money appears not to be a great issue, with the ownership willing to back Mikel Arteta in the transfer market and all signs lean towards that continuing into coming windows to the point where this rebuild can just be regularly topped up with a signing or two at a time.

What is an unavoidable hurdle is the circumstances surrounding January. For a club like Arsenal, generally they are targeting players near the top end of their respective league tables, which tends to result in the clubs showing less willingness to sanction moves mid-season. Either they hold fast or they charge a premium. Often times, it’s both.

But Arsenal are in the market and chasing targets this season. The papers and the rumour mill has told us as much, with seven players currently doing the rounds this window.

1. Danilo – Palmeiras

One of the more recent murmurs comes out of Brazil where it was reported that Arsenal had lodged a bid of around £22m (with add ons) for midfielder Danilo.

The 20-year-old is a deep-lying midfielder who enjoys being in possession as much as he likes breaking opponent attacks up, always seeking to progress the ball in both ways. Boasting a high technical level and close control, he is as capable of dribbling through a press and carrying as he is building the play through distribution.

It’s obviously an area of the pitch where Arsenal are desperately short, and if he’s a player they’ve been monitoring for a while it might be a case of speeding up a summer move to the winter window.

Very quick across the turf and physically able to perform a box-to-box role and adapt to the Premier League, from a profile perspective he suits. However, there has only been one mention of a bid being lodged – which seems extremely premature – and Arsenal need someone ready to hit the ground running in the middle of the park.

One to watch out for.

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2. Mattias Svanberg – Bologna

Could Bologna become the new Lille for Arsenal? Probably not, although there have been whispers of interest in another player in the Italian side’s ranks for a few months now.

Mattias Svanberg is someone whose name has been mentioned in the same breath as Arsenal a few times, although this window has predominantly seen him linked with Manchester City, Inter and Tottenham.

The Swedish international is not one to endear onlookers who are quite reliant on statistics, with his passing numbers over the past year desperately low: his pass completion rate is 75.5% (7th percentile) coming for a side that averages 51.2% in Serie A. But context in terms of team and style is needed.

Surprisingly technical, he uses his body well and possesses a fine shot, with his attacking numbers, despite being majorly a defensive-minded midfielder, very alluring. A 92nd percentile npxG and 80th percentile xA aren’t too shabby.

While there were a fair few links building up to January, they seem to have gone cold for now. However, it was the same with Tomiyasu before the end of the window opened up.

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3. Bruno Guimaraes – Lyon

Everybody seems to want Bruno Guimaraes at the minute. Why? Because he’s very, very good. Like, very good.

Throw in that he’s operating in the midfield of a side languishing in 11th place in Ligue 1 and there is even more reason to be excited about his output. On all passing metrics he is outstanding, on all goal and shot creating actions he is flying the flag, defensively he is a tackling and ball winning machine, and with the ball at feet his is creative, driving and technically astute.

No wonder Arsenal are keeping tabs on him, and no wonder Lyon are woe to lose him this window.

"“It’s [all the transfer talk] normal, even more in the window period,” Bruno Guimarães told Globo Esporte. “When you’re an Olympic champion, you have a good season individually, you’re called up to the national team… it’s normal things in football. I don’t even like to think too much. I leave it more to my agents, for them to solve."

Fees in the region of £40m are being discussed but it strongly looks like this is one that might have to wait until the summer, by which time all the big hitters chasing his signature will be weighing in.

Bruno in January? Stuff of dreams.

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4/5. Arthur Melo & Dejan Kulusevski – Juventus

Remember when the only name in discussion was Dejan Kulusevski’s? Those were the days.

It went from an almighty scramble to sign him – the rumour mill does a great job of chatting utter rubbish a lot of the time – to him not even being remembered in Arsenal quarters, let alone spoken about.

Could he still be a target? It is very possible that he always has been. Arteta wasn’t to know that events would pan out as they did leaving him with a former captain he’s unlikely to use at striker and loose change to try and man his midfield.

Whatever the case, Kulusevski has been either shelved or put on the backburner. This having seemingly been target #1.

Still over at Juventus is Arthur Melo, the midfielder free to leave the club this window for around £30m having fallen out of favour under Massimiliano Allegri. It’s been mentioned that a loan move has been discussed in north London for the Brazilian (they really need to move their backsides into gear) and as ill-suited as Arthur may be at this moment in time, an emergency loan is somewhat acceptable considering there are three huge matches coming up with not much around to play in them.

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6. Jonathan David – Lille

Another one who there is definite interest for is Jonathan David, who many reports have stated Arsenal have been scouting extensively for a number of years.

Having a terrific campaign at Lille where he’s netted 12 goals in 19 Ligue outings and three in six Champions League matches, the Canadian is hot property and his agent has even come out publicly and stated that this will be his final season with the French champions.

As a profile he offers a lot of what Arsenal want. Physically dominant, he likes to provide the central axis in attack, often playing off Burak Yilmaz as a second striker, where he can operate outside the width of the penalty area as well as charge into it to get on the end of chances.

One of the cheaper centre-forward options on Arsenal’s list, it is going to be tough to lure David away from northern France mid-season with all signs pointing towards him seeing out 2021/22 with Les Dogues.

Edu is said to have held discussions with the 21-year-old’s agent at the back of last year as he weighs up Arsenal’s options in the market. However, Mavromaras, David’s agent, did say ‘to be quite open, we don’t expect any movement in this window.’

Nobody expects the unexpected, right?

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7. Dusan Vlahovic – Fiorentina

The unescapable.

Right, so what’s the lowdown on this one?

• Going to be very expensive
• Arsenal only club willing to pay the money this month
• Arteta’s #1 target
• Player not fully convinced
• Agent demands at £15m
• Fiorentina willing to make sale

Everything is now in the player and his agent’s hands, which is always concerning, although if you believe Arsenal’s Croatian Supporters’ Club (yes, really) then tensions between Dusan Vlahovic and his representatives are at breaking point and the striker is in fact keen on moving to north London.

Oh transfer window, never change.

While that needs a wagon load of salt with it, every reliable source about is running with Arsenal’s determination to get this deal over the line. They’ll pay the money, and £58m is a fair price if he’s going to be the starting centre-forward for years to come – and will eventually be bought by PSG for £300m, of course.

He is the man. He is the target.