Arsenal are one of the Premier League clubs interested in signing Sporting Lisbon centre-back Ousmane Diomande during the summer transfer window.
The Ivory Coast international has made tremendous progress since his move to Sporting from Danish side Midtjylland in January last year. He is currently one of their most valuable players.
His performances have caught the eye of several elite European clubs and O Jogo (page 13) claim that Arsenal are one of those who want to land his signature at the end of the season.
Alongside the Gunners, Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle United have been credited with an interest in the 20-year-old, who has a release clause worth €80 million in his Sporting deal.
Elsewhere, Record (page 10) claim that Chelsea have made first contact to land the centre-back and they are willing to pay an initial fee of €60m plus add-ons for the highly-rated star.
Diomande would be a fine acquisition for Arsenal
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta currently has one of the best central defensive partnerships in European football. William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes have been brilliant as a pairing.
They have been in scintillating form over the past few weeks. Both Saliba and Gabriel have been impressive with his distribution. The latter has also scored plenty from set-pieces.
Despite this, Arteta may not want to rest on their success. The Spaniard may want to add strong competition for places and Diomande would be a statement signing for the club.
The Gunners already have Jurrien Timber and Jakub Kiwior to provide support, but we won’t be surprised if the club were to pursue a deal for Diomande during the next transfer window.
The 20-year-old was a top target for the club before his move to Sporting. He has been fantastic this term with a passing accuracy of 91 per cent for the Primeira Liga giants.
He has won 61 per cent of his duels alongside 5.7 ball recoveries. Diomande prefers to operate from a right centre-back role, but can also play from the right-back position.
The big question remains whether the youngster would accept limited minutes at the club when he could get guaranteed playing time at Chelsea with the exit of Thiago Silva.
Nonetheless, the Gunners need to be pro-active in the pursuit with the Blues making first contact.
Arsenal are most likely to be back in the Champions League next season and this could be a key factor in securing his services ahead of the Blues in the next transfer window.
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