Unai Emery demands world-class Arsenal centre-back with Maguire, Alderweireld, Zouma and Dakonam on radar
ARSENAL’S summer spending plans have been thrown into chaos by boss Unai Emery’s demand for a world-class centre-half.
Now the club are looking to sell stars including Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Shkodran Mustafi to finance the Spaniard’s rebuilding.
But Emery has been warned that he will have to work with a budget of around £40million if Arsenal fail to qualify for the Champions League.
The Gunners boss has seen the way Liverpool have been transformed by £75m Virgil van Dijk and believes Arsenal need to follow suit to address his team’s shortcomings.
Harry Maguire, Toby Alderweireld, Kurt Zouma and Getafe’s Djene Dakonam are all on radar — but none would come cheaply.
They are committed to paying £7m for Brazilian forward Gabriel Martinelli, 17, and are interested in £18m-rated Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Christopher Nkunku, 21.
But Arsenal’s failure to appoint a director of football or replace head of recruitment Sven Mislintat is causing problems behind the scenes.
Head of football Raul Sanllehi and international scout Francis Cagigao are overseeing spending plans in consultation with Emery and managing director Vinai Venkatesham.
But it is unclear who is in control of the overall strategy and taking charge of negotiations this summer.
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Ozil and Mkhitaryan have two years to run on lucrative contracts and could be almost impossible to shift for any sort of fee.
Arsenal have failed to find a buyer for error-prone Mustafi for the last two years.
The uncertainty has increased the pressure on the Gunners to win the Europa League — they face Valencia in the semi-final first leg tomorrow — and secure Champions League qualification worth around £30m.