According to recent reports, Arsenal are already busy preparing future moves in the transfer market ahead of the January window which will open in three months time.
The Gunners had their busiest transfer window ever this summer as the club spent over £200million on four new signings ahead of the 2023/24 campaign. Record signing, Declan Rice moved to North London for £105million, while Kai Havertz joined Jorginho in making the move from Chelsea to Arsenal for £65million. David Raya joined from Brentford to provide competition for Aaron Ramsdale and Arsenal also signed Jurrien Timber from Ajax who unfortunately picked up an ACL injury on his Premier League debut last month.
With Jurrien Timber set to be out for the majority of this season, Arsenal are already in the market for a new defender ahead of the January transfer window. The Gunners are looking to fend off competition by placing an early bid to sign Sporting CP defender Ousmane Diomande.
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With some of the biggest clubs around Europe interested in signing the Sporting CP defender in January, Arsenal have attempted to get ahead of the competition as they have already placed a bid worth £30million, according to Record.
Despite the Gunners’ offer in the attempt of sealing a deal as early as possible, Sporting CP do not want to sell Ousmane Diomande unless his release clause of £69million is met and have therefore rejected Arsenal’s first offer this month.
In fact, according to reports Sporting are now contemplating offering a new deal to Diamonde whose current contract expires in 2027.
The 19-year-old joined Sporting from Danish side, FC Midtjylland in January 2023 for a fee of around £6million. He’s only been in Portugal for a matter of months and the biggest clubs around Europe are already circling around him which shows just how impressive he’s been in his short time at Sporting so far.
This season the defender has played every game in the league, scoring one goal and recording one assist in five games to help Sporting sit third in the table and remain unbeaten.
It’s clear why Arsenal are so keen in signing Diomande come January. The player may not be a guaranteed starter under Mikel Arteta but he would provide the manager with additional quality and the opportunity to rotate the squad whenever required.
NEXT ARTICLE: Positive update on Jurrien Timber injury as he continues his recovery.
