Piero Hincapie has agreed on a deal to sign for Arsenal.
The defender has left Bayer Leverkusen on loan with an option to buy. As per Sky Sports, if the Gunners go ahead with triggering a permanent transfer, they will pay a fee of £45 million for him.
This arrangement adds to the mass exodus of talent that has taken place for Die Werkself during the summer. Xabi Alonso planned to return to Real Madrid, setting sail for the Spanish capital at the end of May. His departure from the dugout has hurt the team, and players on the pitch have followed suit.
Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz have signed for Liverpool. Granit Xhaka is the new club captain of Sunderland, and Amine Adli arrived on the south coast of England to join Bournemouth.
On top of that, **Jonathan Tah**has switched to Bayern Munich, and Lukas Hradecky has moved to Monaco. Hincapié was not willing to wait around to discover the full impact of this transitory season.
He was a part of something special as a squad member in the invincible domestic double for Leverkusen in 2024. Now, he is enticed by being a final piece of the puzzle in North London.
Defensive depth increases again
In the back three system of Alonso from that historic year, Hincapié played on the left of the defence.
The Spaniard urged his central defenders to be front-footed on the ball, and the 23-year-old was no exception. Indeed, when Alonso started to use lineups with four central defenders last season, the Ecuadorian was enough of an offensive force to gallop up and down the flank as a left back.
Arteta loves concocting new uses for defenders, and he could see Hincapié as a project to give something different from left back, offering overlaps while an Eberechi Eze floats more centrally.
Jakub Kiwior and Riccardo Calafiori are the players most closely aligned to Hincapié in terms of the positions he can cover. But while the latter has started both Premier League matches as a left back, the former appears to be pushing for a departure, with **Porto**poised to be his destination.
Oleksandr Zinchenko might also need to leave to clear wages. The Ukrainian has voiced his sadness at his lack of minutes, sitting behind Myles Lewis-Skelly in the depth chart as a playmaking fullback.
The 28-year-old has entered the last twelve months of his contract with the Gunners. The question remains whether he will sacrifice his £150,000 weekly wage packet for playing time as his preference.
Albert Sambi Lokonga, Fabio Vieira, and Reiss Nelson could also be on their way out the door. Slowly but surely, Arteta is building a bank of fit players whom he trusts to share the physical burden of the campaign. That could be the difference between narrowly missing out and getting over the line.