Arsenal ‘willing to pay’ £34m for defender after Arteta ‘orders’ Edu to beat Liverpool in transfer race
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are prepared to pay the release clause in Jeremie Frimpong’s Bayer Leverkusen contract, according to reports.
Frimpong is one of the best attacking full-backs in Europe and has registered an impressive seven goals and 10 assists in 22 appearances across all competitions this season.
These statistics have caught the eye of several top clubs around Europe, including Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid.
The 23-year-old reportedly has a £34million release clause in his Leverkusen contract, which is an absolute bargain, even if he isn’t the most convincing defender in the world.
Arsenal have been strongly linked this week and a couple of reports coming out of Spain say they are ready to win the race for the Dutchman ahead of Real Madrid.
According to Nacional, Arteta has ‘ordered’ Gunners director of football, Edu Gaspar, to win the race for Frimpong’s signature.
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It is noted that Madrid have been ‘monitoring’ the former Celtic defender for a while and he is one of their ‘priorities’.
However, there is also interest from Premier League giants Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, and the latter are ‘the one who would already be willing to pay a release clause of only 40 million euros’.
A January transfer is deemed very unlikely as Leverkusen chase glory in the Europa League and Bundesliga.
They are currently top of the German top flight, four points ahead of reigning champions Bayern Munich.
Xabi Alonso is doing an incredible job at Bayer, leading them to an unbeaten start to the campaign.
A separate report from Football Insider says Liverpool have ‘set their sights’ on signing Frimpong.
The signing of Frimpong could lead to Jurgen Klopp moving Trent Alexander-Arnold into a permanent midfield role.
Alexander-Arnold has thrived as an inverted right-back and was once again influential when the Reds knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup on Sunday.
Klopp’s men left it late to win, finding their rhythm in the second half after surrendering chance after chance in the opening 45 minutes.
“It was a huge win,” Alexander-Arnold said on Sunday. “We had a lot of players missing.
“We came here with one objective, which was to win and to get into the next round and we have done that with two late goals.
“We had chances and we changed things at half-time internally. We came out and played football, created chances, the changes we made had an impact for us.
“There were times in the first half where we were a bit naive. We had mistakes, a sloppy pass here and there.”
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