Arsenal's 9 transfer targets before January deadline

Arsenal’s 9 transfer targets before January deadline – list

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LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – JANUARY 22: Douglas Luiz of Aston Villa during the Premier League match between Everton and Aston Villa at Goodison Park on January 22, 2022 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by James Williamson – AMA/Getty Images) /

5. Douglas Luiz – Aston Villa

Age: 23
Contract expiry: 2023
Estimated fee: £20m

If it’s a destroyer that Arsenal are after then it’s understandable that Douglas Luiz has cropped up on their searches. The Aston Villa midfielder is tenacious, aggressive and combative, so to inject some additional physicality in midfield when one or both of Xhaka or Partey aren’t available he fits the bill.

Links have been around fleetingly for a while, with Arteta knowing plenty about the midfielder from their time together at Manchester City. The Spaniard kept monitoring the 23-year-old during his loan spell at Girona too.

This one is a touch more puzzling, however. Given that Villa have had a bid rejected by Brighton for Yves Bissouma it indicates that they feel they can upgrade on Luiz, with a player who, by all accounts, is superior in almost every department.

Both have deals expiring at the end of next season and while Luiz would likely be the cheaper of the two options, Bissouma is the stronger tackler, distributor, intelligent off the ball and has the capacity to be used more dynamically as shown during his playing days in France.

Besides, don’t Arsenal have enough players who dance on the border of a red card every game?

Standalone verdict: There are better options out there.

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