Arsenal are ready to enter the race for Watford defender Adrian Mariappa.
According to The Sun, Newcastle and Swansea are currently frontrunners for the 25-year-old’s signature, but Arsene Wenger, who saw his side leak two goals yesterday against Aston Villa, is ready to make a shock move for Mariappa after watching his impressive showing against Spurs in the FA Cup last Friday.
Newcastle have already had a £1.5 million bid rejected by the Championship side, but The Hornets would be willing to do business at around the £4 million mark.
While this could be beyond both Newcastle and Swansea’s budget, Arsenal may be tempted to offer the asking price and reinforce their back-line without having to splash the cash.
Mariappa is a 5’11’’ versatile defender who can play at centre-back or as an emergency right-back. The Englishman would certainly provide competition for the first-team having played over 200 games for Watford since 2005.
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the only shock for me is that we should have done this jan 1st, now sagna is returning and jenkinson supposedly not far away it is a strange one, but perhaps wenger wants extra protection as we are fighting on 3 fronts, if we can get a left version too that would be great….vertonghen in for squillaci and hopefully samba in for djourou.
yennaris and miquel can go on loan.
Mark my words no defenders for sure