Arsenal eye move to sign former Spurs star

Arsenal’s pre-season has perfectly encapsulated their last 10 years – sometimes good, sometimes not so good.

While their technical brilliance and talent cannot be faulted, there remains to be a constant struggle to translate those into results on the pitch.

In the final match of the pre-season Mind Series which has seen Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs face each other in a round-robin style tournament, Mikel Arteta’s side were beaten 1-0 by their rivals thanks to a late goal by Son Heung-Min.

They had their chances to edge ahead of Nuno Espirito-Santo’s side but they lacked the clinical edge at both ends of the field.

Now, according to The Sun, Arteta wants to add another defender to his ranks, and is very keen on signing former Tottenham defender Kieran Trippier from Atletico Madrid.

Trippier won La Liga 20/21 with Atletico and reached the Euro 2020 final with England. 

The England right-back, who assisted Luke Shaw’s goal in the Euro 2020 final against Italy, could be for sale with Diego Simeone’s side reportedly struggling under financial fair play difficulties.

Manchester United were thought to be very interested in signing the 30-year-old full-back, but they were only willing to offer £20 million – £16 million short of what Atletico were asking for.

However, Arsenal could be willing to stump up the fee for the man who used to star for their North London rivals.

Hector Bellerin’s future is still uncertain amid interest from Inter Milan, so a new right-back appears to be a transfer priority position for Arteta.

Arsenal have already signed Ben White from Brighton and Hove Albion for £50 million, Albert Sambi-Lokonga from Anderlecht for £15 million, and Nuno Tavares from Benfica for £7 million.

The addition of Trippier, who has played in 107 Premier League matches, would be seen as a quality addition.