Arsenal hunting emergency signing of mistake-prone star who is on the verge of transfer
Arsenal are looking at the signing of Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae ahead of the January transfer window, according to reports.
The Gunners have started the defence of their Premier League title crown well with five wins from six, although Manchester City are still three points clear of them after a perfect start to the season under Enzo Maresca.
Arsenal also secured two wins from two matches in the Champions League on Tuesday as goals from Jurrien Timber, Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka gave Mikel Arteta’s side a 3-0 win over French side Lille.
However, it hasn’t been all good news with Piero Hincapie picking up a post-match injury in the warm-down session after beating Leeds United over the weekend, as the defender was carried off the pitch on Illan Meslier’s back.
After Hincapie went for a scan on Monday, Arteta told reporters: “Piero is improving but it looks more significant.
“I think it will be a matter of weeks but we don’t know exactly how many.”
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But German newspaper Bild hint that Hincapie’s injury could be worse than feared with Arsenal ‘hunting’ the ’emergency signing’ of Bayern Munich defender Kim in January.
It is understood that the Premier League champions ‘are pursuing’ Kim and the report in Germany adds: ‘Background: Arsenal’s desired defender, Piero Hincapié, is injured, and the English club urgently needs a replacement. Kim’s name has been brought into the mix by an old acquaintance: Maurizio Micheli, his former Napoli mentor, who now works for Arsenal.
‘But would Bayern let their defensive giant leave mid-season? Internally, opinions on this are apparently divided.
‘Bayern could certainly use the revenue to become active in the transfer market themselves. Theoretically, Hiroki Ito would be a suitable replacement.
‘Relying solely on Ito would be extremely risky – the Japanese player has a history of frequent injuries. Furthermore, Kim repeatedly makes mistakes that cast doubt on his suitability for the demanding Premier League. A winter transfer therefore seems unlikely.’
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One defender who has been impressing for Arsenal so far this term is Riccardo Calafiori with the Italian insisting the club’s Premier League title win last season was “better than I had dreamed”.
When asked if last year’s Premier League win was what he imagined it to be like, Calafiori told Arsenal’s official website: “It was. As a team, and as a whole club, we wanted to win it so badly. But sometimes in life when you really, really want that one thing, and then you finally achieve it, it’s not as good as you thought it would be.
‘It was better than I had dreamed’ – Calafiori on Arsenal title
“But in this case it was even better than I had dreamed! It’s difficult to explain, but it was a huge satisfaction and also a huge release throughout the whole club and the Arsenal family.
“All the players were together that night, at the training ground, watching Manchester City against Bournemouth. And we were all together celebrating. Just amazing. It’s the best day of my life, for sure, because it was on my birthday as well. It was crazy.
“The parade as well. That was going to be a bit tricky, because it was the morning after losing the Champions League final, and a few of us were speaking on the plane back from Hungary saying we really don’t want to do this.
“But then when we saw how many people were there, we just went crazy! In the end it was the right thing, because it was still an unbelievable season for us. You can’t be conditioned from that Champions League final – you have to see the bigger picture, and it was amazing.”
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