Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta is now making swift moves in the transfer market as he aims to have the bulk of Mikel Arteta’s squad sorted for pre-season.
Arteta’s Arsenal players will soon return for their first pre-season meeting before they jet off to a warm weather training camp in Spain, which will then be followed by a tour of Asia.
Of course, it’s looking like all of Martin Zubimendi, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Christian Norgaard will be signed in time for that trip.
Zubimendi has said goodbye to Real Sociedad and Arsenal also have agreements in place for the experienced Premier League duo.
However, when it comes to recruiting a new central defender for next season, Arsenal are working on a deal for Cristhian Mosquera at Valencia.
21-year-old Cristhian Mosquera made 41 appearances for the Spanish side last term, but now only has one year left on his contract.
Arsenal ready to make a second bid for Cristhian Mosquera
That being said, journalist Fabrizio Romano has now claimed that Arsenal are ready to make a ‘very strong’ move to sign Mosquera, having seen their first bid for the Spaniard rejected.
Andrea Berta is ready to up the Gunners’ bid to sign the Spain U21 international, who would come in to compete with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.
Cristhian Mosquera playing for Valencia.
Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images
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Romano said: “Arsenal’s opening proposal for Cristhian Mosquera for €14m was rejected. Arsenal will return to the table, they hope to get the deal done for this Spanish defender for something around €20m/€25m.
“Let’s say it will be in excess of €20m to get Mosquera who is out of contract in one year at Valencia, who is not extending his contract and has said yes to contract terms offered by Arsenal.
“So the proposal is on the table from Arsenal, the contract is on the table and Mosquera has already said yes to Arsenal, to Mikel Arteta, to Andrea Berta, to all people at the club because he wants to go to the Premier League and he wants to go to Arsenal.
“Now club to club they are discussing, they are negotiating — no agreement on €14m/€15m but Arsenal will be back to the table.
“I expect Arsenal to go very strong on this one once again.”
Atletico Madrid wanted to sign Cristhian Mosquera
Although Mosquera’s name wasn’t too well known in England prior to Arsenal’s interest, his talent hasn’t been such a well-kept secret over in La Liga.
And at a similar time last year, Spanish giants Atletico Madrid were actually interested in signing Mosquera, a ‘fantastic’ defender who manager at the time, Ruben Baraja, didn’t want to lose.
Valencia’s bargaining position has now been weakened by Mosquera’s contract situation, but when linked with Atletico in the past, Baraja only saw fit to praise the defender he wanted to keep.
Asked about interest in Mosquera at his press conference in 2024, Baraja replied: “I am focused on the sporting side of things and Mosquera has to be in that dynamic.
“His season has been fantastic in every way, logically that can draw attention from other teams. But he is a Valencia player and he has to focus on the last five games and not think about anything else.”
And given that Arsenal are also chasing a new striker, they’ll hope to have a deal wrapped up for Mosquera as soon as possible.