Arsenal to land £65,000-a-week superstar

Arsenal coach Unai Emery wants to bring European heavyweights Juventus central defender Medhi Benatia to the Emirates, according to reports in the Italian media.

 

When Leonardo Bonucci left to join league rivals AC Milan at the start of last summer, Medhi believed that he was going to be given the opportunity to be Giorgio Chiellini’s centre-back partner for a few campaigns but Bonucci returned to Juventus during the transfer market and as such, the Morrocan has found playing time hard to come by.

The 31-year-old Morocco international Medhi Benatia wants to play regular senior-team football and he would likely be able to get that at the north London outfit.

 

Questions remain about Albanian-German star Shkodran Mustafi’s long-term future as Gunners’ first-choice defender, whilst Sokratis Papastathopoulos looks to be a backup option at best.

 

Rob Holding has impressed and has an opportunity to become a regular starter but Unai could certainly do with adding another centre-half to his squad.

AC Milan are keen to land Benatia too and have apparently offered around €15 million for him, so Arsenal will need to make a similar offer to have an opportunity to sign the Morrocan star.