Arsenal round-up: Club enter race for Dutchman; defensive crisis; Szczesny’s moving edging closer

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Arsenal have joined the race for Virgil van Dijk as they look to strengthen their defence this summer. The Sun report that the Gunners are now competing with Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City for the Dutchman, despite Southampton being adamant that he won’t leave the club.

Laurent Koscielny has ongoing injury problems, while Per Mertesacker is set to retire at the end of the season. There is a need for another defender in the squad, especially if they want to persist with the 3-4-3 formation.

This is an interesting link, but it does come from the Sun, therefore it needs to be treated with caution. Arsenal’s main priority this summer is to improve their attacking options, while they also want another central midfielder. It could be that they would like a defender to come in as well, but this wouldn’t be addressed until the priority positions have been sorted out.

There are few better centre backs in the Premier League than Van Dijk and he would be a superb addition for the Gunners. However, it will be difficult to do a deal as they can’t offer Champions League football. This doesn’t seem likely at this stage.

The season is still weeks from starting and Arsenal are already facing a defensive crisis. Football London report that Arsene Wenger could face a selection crisis for the opening two matches, as a number of defenders may not be available.

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Laurent Koscielny is certain to miss out through suspension, while Calum Chambers, Rob Holding and Shkodran Mustafi all haven’t made the trip to Australia for the club’s pre-season tour. Although they have been given extra time to recover from their international exploits, they may find themselves struggling to gain match fitness before the kick-off.

It is too soon to be getting ahead of ourselves, but this is a concerning update for supporters. The links with Van Dijk may have come as a result of concerns within the coaching staff that they need a new defender for the first weeks of the season.

Aside from the fitness concerns, only Mustafi and Koscielny have proven themselves as being good enough for Arsenal’s level. It is a big blow for Chambers to be missing the Australian tour, as it would have been a good opportunity for him to prove himself to Wenger. At the moment, he is not as high up the pecking order as he would like.

Finally, The Sun report that Wojciech Szczesny has moved closer to Juventus after being left out of Arsenal’s pre-season tour. He has been allowed to stay behind in order to accelerate a transfer to the Serie A champions.

The Old Lady want the Poland international to come in with the view to being Gianluigi Buffon’s long-term successor after being impressed by his performances while on loan at Roma. A number of other Italian clubs have also registered an interest in the goalkeeper this summer.

If his career progresses as Juventus are hoping, this could be a transfer that Arsenal regret during the coming years. Petr Cech is a great goalkeeper, but he does not have many years left at the top level and then the club will need a new number one. At this time, it brings in some money to increase their own spending power, but in the long term, this could be a bad move by the club.

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