CONFIRM DONE DEAL DATE: Arsenal on the VERGE of completing deal for one of the biggest prospect in Europe – Medical date confirm
Arsenal will leave any move for Vitoria Guimaraes midfielder Ibrahima Bamba until the summer transfer window, according to reports.
The Gunners have been spending a lot of the January transfer window looking for the right midfielder to bring in ahead of Tuesday’s transfer deadline.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu have so far been unsuccessful in getting a deal for a midfielder over the line but their need for a new player in that position has grown this week with the news that Mohamed Elneny could be out injured for a while.
In further bad news, Thomas Partey was forced off with a rib injury in their 1-0 loss to Manchester City in their FA Cup fourth round tie at the Etihad Stadium on Friday night, with the Gunners now nervously waiting on a scan.
Arteta has publicly admitted that they will attempt to sign a new midfielder before the deadline and widespread reports claim they had a £60m bid for Brighton’s Moises Caicedo rejected yesterday.
Caicedo now seems their main target before the deadline with reports suggesting Arsenal will attempt a ‘second offer’ after the Ecuador international was put on leave by Brighton until February 1.
And Sport Italia claims that Arsenal will now postpone their interest in Vitoria Guimaraes’ Bamba until the summer.
The report claims that the north Londoners are ‘not moving’ for Bamba before the deadline but they are ‘targeting’ him in the summer window instead.
Bamba’s agent was in London recently, which sparked the rumours that the defensive midfielder could be on the move in an ‘imminent transfer’ to the Gunners, but he has denied he was in London to hold talks with Arsenal.
“It’s true that I was in London, but I am just arriving from Germany, where I was watching Tapsoba’s game. Bamba is not the only player I work with,” Alves told O Jogo.
“He’s a player profile that is clearly of interest to many clubs, but today he is a Vitória player and is only focused on Monday’s game in Chaves. The market is open, but I’m not going to feed rumours.”
Giving updates on injuries to Partey and Elneny, Arteta said after the match against City: “He had some discomfort and it was getting worse and worse. He was uncomfortable to continue. (Saturday) or the day after he will have an MRI scan and see what he has.
“We have at the moment the injury of Mo (Elneny). It is not possible to get him fit. (Albert) Sambi has come in and has done well. It is true Thomas is a big influence and a big personality and in the second half we didn’t have him.”
