Arsenal In Advanced Discussions To Sign £42m-Rated Star - Not Mahrez Or Lacazette

With Per Mertesacker out for the next five months, Arsenal surely do need to sign another centre back. And this much has been confirmed by Wenger himself. To this end, Italian journalist Emanuele Giulianelli has confirmed Arsenal are very close to reaching an agreement for the signature of Shkodran Mustafi of Valencia.

According to the Italian, Arsenal and Valencia are just £4.2million apart in their respective valuations of the player. Arsenal have had to use France Under 21 international Francis Coquelin as a stop-gap centre back in training, due to the shortage of players who can play in that position, as a result of Mertesacker's injury and the fact that Koscielny is still away on holiday.

Meanwhile, watchers of the Serie A will agree Icardi is a potentially world-class striker. One that will do well with Arsenal's style of play. With Mesut Ozil in our team, Icardi will score tons of goals. However, should we sign Icardi, hopefully Wenger won't stop there.

Emanuele Giulianelli who works for Italian media outlet Gazzetta Dello Sport confirmed via Twitter that Arsenal and Valencia are locked in discussions for the transfer of Mustafi.

Mustafi, Arsenal and Valencia are still €5mln far away for the fee. #afc

— Emanuele Giulianelli (@EmaGiulianelli) July 31, 2016

Arsenal have been quoted between £20million and £30million for the former Everton player, although it is also reported that he has a release clause of £42 million. Valencia are reportedly willing to sell for less than the release clause price, due to a lack of funds. Football Insider reckons club director Jesus Garcia Pitarch intends to use the money from the sale of Mustafi to bolster the Valencia squad ahead of the new season.

The signing of Mustafi, if it happens, will be interesting for Calum Chambers in that with Mertesacker's injury, one would expect the former Southampton to be called upon. However, if Mustafi signs for us, it is certain Wenger won't leave him on the bench and play Chambers.

Chambers could, however, get some game time pending the time it takes Koscielny to return to fitness, but what happens when the Frenchman returns to the first team? Will Chambers be back on the bench? He is surely not going to like being constantly benched. And rightly so, at this time in his career, he should be playing. Unfortunately, he has better players than him ahead of him in the pecking order.

Personally, I think Chambers should be sent on loan to a Premier League club. He is certainly not going to get the much-needed game time to gain experience with Arsenal but, by sending him on loan, he will be a able to play regularly to gain experience which will be needed soon, especially as Mertesacker will be 32 in September and is unlikely to be around for much longer. Koscielny is already 30 too.

Chambers may not be ready for Arsenal, but his talent is obvious. He simply needs experience, and that can be gained on loan away from Arsenal.