Arsenal receive a boost in their pursuit of Barcelona’s Samuel Umtiti

Arsenal will want to sign a new centre back in the summer transfer window since their current CB’s aren’t good enough or are old. Samuel Umtiti has been one of the many centre backs that have been linked with a move to Arsenal in the last few months.

Samuel Umtiti has in the last few years struggled with injuries and this has led to Barcelona to start benching him in most of their games as he has only started nine matches in the Spanish LA Liga this season but he was however considered to be one of the best centre backs in the world not too long ago and so Arsenal are hopeful that he could excel with them.

Serie A side Napoli are also interested in Samuel Umtiti but the gunners have however received a boost in their chances of signing Samuel Umtiti as the Italian club will not be able to pay Barcelona’s asking price of £45million according to a report by Spanish outlet Sport. It is not clear whether Arsenal could as well be able to get the asking price of Barcelona but they still have chances of getting UEFA Champions League football which would then give them enough funds to be able to help them purchase Samuel Umtiti from the Catalan club.

BARCELONA, SPAIN – MARCH 9: Samuel Umtiti of FC Barcelona during the La Liga Santander match between FC Barcelona v Rayo Vallecano at the Camp Nou on March 9, 2019 in Barcelona Spain (Photo by Jeroen Meuwsen/Soccrates/Getty Images)

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has already said and shown that he wants fast and ball playing defenders in his side since he wants to bring back the possession based football to the North London club and Samuel Umtiti totally fits into that profile but the question will however be; can he have an injury free season in the Premier League which is known to be a physical league.

The Mirror also reports that the gunners were first interested in Samuel Umtiti in the January transfer window but then opted to sign Pablo Mari on a loan deal after it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to get the Barcelona centre back. There hasn’t been any confirmation as to whether the gunners will be keeping Pablo Mari but they will however probably make a decision after the Premier League ends.