Arsenal’s defensive target Kostas Manolas has opted to join Serie A side AS Roma, leaving Arsene Wenger’s club in a bit of a quandary over who to put in place of centre-back Thomas Vermaelen – who moved to Barcelona this summer.
Gunners first team coach Arsene Wenger had been very keen to acquire the signature of 23-year-old Manolas but the Greece international has chosen to see out the next phase of his football career in Italy’s sunny capitol rather than north London.
A five-year deal has been agreed between Manolas’ former club Olympiacos and Roma to the value of £10m. The player is believed to have been purchased to replace for former Roma defender Medhi Benatia, who snubbed his keen Premier League fanciers Chelsea and Manchester United this week when he accepted his proposal from Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
With Manolas now out of the question, the Arsenal manager will need to assess his options fast, should he still wish to add to his back four. Time is running out with the summer 2014 transfer window drawing to a close in five days.
The side has already made reinforcements defensively this summer with Calum Chambers – a product of Southampton’s youth academy – who joined Arsenal for £16m last month. At 19, Chambers is is tipped as a promising young talent and combined with the experience of Arsenal stalwarts Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny and not forgetting the versatility of summer arrival Mathieu Debuchy, the Gunners boss may decide he has sufficient cover.