Arsenal are lining up a bid for Bayern Munich centre-back Medhi Benatia, according to French site RMC Sport.
The 29-year-old Morocco international was heavily linked with the Gunners back in 2014 only to be lured from Roma to the Allianz Arena in a deal that cost the Bavarian giants €26 million.
Benatia made 22 appearances in his first season at the Allianz Arena but only featured 16 times during Bayern’s latest Double triumph. He’s said to be frustrated by his lack of game time and has also been linked with a return to Serie A.
Born in France, the defender started his career at Marseille before dropping down to Ligue 2 Clermont. In 2010 he secured a free transfer to Udinese and after three years switched to Roma where he was fundamental to Rudi Garcia’s back four.
The Gunners are on the brink of announcing a deal for Borussia Moenchengladbach’s Granit Xhaka and are known to be on the lookout for defensive and attacking acquisitions.
We suspect there’s a bit of agent play at work here, although the reliable Get French Football News seem to think there’s some truth to it.
All eyes on the poo-o-meter.
Where’s the poo meter
That’s the best way to judge a transfer
Hi,in the last comment of the szczesny piece “Dan Hunter” has kindly translated the original polish and it’s a completely different story.
Worth a look (or update).
It was taken from the comments section of another blog where a Polish person had translated.
Not happening
Sounds like he’s a quality player. I hope we sign him or someone of his calibre.
Since Maureen is about to join Man U and he doesn’t like Mata, maybe we could go in for a big bid for him.
Mata’s a player we’ve been linked to in the past!
Fucking Mourinho, I can’t believe we have to put up with him in the Premier League again so soon after he was booted out.
My thoughts exactly. Well, at least he’ll make everyone hate Man Utd, so that’s a good thing, and we might start winning against Chelsea again since he’s gone to Utd.
Man U must be desperate to sign Mourinho. While LVG didn’t deliver the results they hoped and his style of football was boring he was at least a steady hand steering the ship if ever so slowly back towards former glories. Too slowly apparently so they opted for the Sturm und Drang of The Cunty One which might just prove to be their undoing.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed on this one. Regardless of the outcome the times ahead should be exciting.
Dear God what a cunt Mourinho is!
Mourinho’s like herpes: you think you’ve got rid of him, but he’s just lying dormant in the ganglia, waiting to strike you when you least expect it.
I don’t have herpes, my wife’s a doctor and she told me. Honest.
So what you are saying is that not only is he a cunt, he’s a cunt who spreads Herpes. I can believe that.
I’ll never a date a chick named Maureen.
That’s not a nice thing to say about his wifes doctor…. or have I misunderstood…
good side to it is after couple of seasons he’ll do what we know he does and leave a fucked up Man Utd behind.
And hopefully this time he’ll make such a massive tit of himself that he’ll never recover from it.
Wonder if that means we don’t get Morata
The Grauniad reports that Morata would prefer Man U, so that he can work under Mourinho. Too bad if true.
Please move quickly Wenger, and get that Striker and Defender we so badly need. I also hope that the reports of Arsenal after Sadio Mane are true — he’s an excellent player, and can give us an excellent option on the wing.
Sure why not?
Why stop there? Let’s get James Rodriguez, Goetze, and all the other available Attacking Midfielders.
Play 11 CAMs for our squad. Change our name to the Arsenal attacking midfielders.
I guess the sarcasm was missed in regards to the poster above saying we should get Mata.
Considering we have about 6-7 midfielders that can play the CAM role at arsenal, Mata is not what we need.
Funny, but you know we’ll get one of them. Goetze this year might mean Lewandowski soon as well.
Oh, great idea ! Let’s switch Özil for Mata! Mou would be happy. I’m not sure Arsène would.
I’d take a gamble on Arda Turan if we can shift Wallcott on.
I’d take a gamble on inanimate carbon rod if we could move Walcott on.
Better to replace Walcott with my Gran, it’s less of a risk…
And the carbon rod scores! That’s 15 this year in the EPL. The carbon rod may well be the “Newcomer of the Year”. Some Arsenal supporters, however, think the player lacks pace, imagination, and tactical flexibility.
I think the fact they went and got Hummels means he will leave. I’m just don’t think he’ll be coming to the Premier League.
French/Moroccan. Weak hair game. Likes a Bosman. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, Chamakh was pretty good at defending set pieces….
He’s was pretty good until RVP actually managed to stay fit for a season.
Ah. I was sat there wondering which centre back we’d signed was Moroccan/French. Squillaci? Sylvester? Cygan?
Then it hit me. At least he’d be good for half a season!
…29 yrs old..hmmm…
He’s only 6 months older than Higuain though. Is he too old as well…?
Too old
Can’t see it happening unless mertesacker leaves,and that would be the wrong decision for me.
Probably Wenger wants four capable CBs? Kos, Mert, Gabriel, and ?Benatia? This would make sense since Mert is close to retiring, and that Chambers will be used as a DM or RB backup.
I don’t know. I do feel we need another CB though. I feel Wenger has lost a bit of faith in Mertesacker’s playing ability (but no question about his influence behind the scenes).
Monreal can fill in at centre-back … we should develop Chambers there …. need two world-class strikers in case one gets injured. But who … Higuain is a good player/poacher but can he thrive in PL?
Benzema? Sturridge, Lukaku all linked to us and MORATA …Also Sissoko/Kante and Wanyama have been linked to us.
We could be quite good.
8 thumbs down, so we don’t want any of these guys? No wonder we can’t win the fucking league …
The thumbs down were probably to the absurd “Arsenal need two world class strikers in case one gets injured” statement. So we sign Higuain and then tell Benzema that we would like him to come in just in case Higuain gets hurt. I’m sure almost any “world class striker” would be happy with an arrangement like that. Also, Sturridge, Lukaku, and Morata are world class. If so the the term “world class” is even more devoid of meaning than I thought.
Oh, I thought the two world-class strikers could play together. Silly me. We sell one of Theo or Ox and Rosicky to fund the purchase. Could Morata and Higuain play together, or interchange in the marathon run of fixtures? If one, God forbid it ever happened at the Arsenal, of them got injured, we have plenty of class coming in … Giroud, Theo or the Ox, Campbell, Welbeck when back … I think its called insurance lads. We’ve got the money and enough defenders and midfielders already. Just saying COYG
He’s 29, and hasn’t played much the last 2 years. Is he an upgrade on our players Kosh, Mert Paulo and Chambo? Me thinks not. I recommend Stones if we can get him for less than £30,000,001
Stones? After the horrible season he had? No thanks, just another overhyped English player.
Stones is quite good. Not 30 mil good, though.
Are you for real? Why om earth should de gi for Stones. His last season with Everton has been horrible, and he has none of the qualities Arsenal look at when it comes to a defender. We’d be much netter of just paying 8 million£ for Holding than overhyped John Stones
Seriously good signing if this story has any teeth that is.
He has been injured a lot this year and the fact that he is already 29 years old makes this a risky move if you ask me.
He is 29 not 49, so not too old. He would cost less than 20m. We have plenty more than that in reserve. What exactly is the problem? It’s being out like we’re paying 20000000000 for pat butcher or something
Pat Butcher would be an excellent voice in the dressing room. Granted, she wouldn’t be a first team regular due to her being dead and all but her experience could really benefit the younger squad members.
Pay Butcher would be an upgrade on my Gran, I say go for it!
They both have good box presence (unless Pat was cremated?) 🙂
They both know how to hit the bar!
Liked the link a few weeks ago to Lucas, the 20 year old French defender at Atletico, the right age and comes from a club that takes defending seriously.
But Varane might be available.
There’s literally zero chance Varane will be available, and IF he ever is it’ll be for £50m minimum. Absolutely sod all chance.
Well. Crush my dream why don’t you
Another Squillachi or another Campbell?
He was quality at AC Milan. Since joining Bayern, he became injury-prone in a more physical league. Reports suggest Bayern want 15m€. Smells fishy.
Obviously I meant Roma… This is what happens when you start profiling too many rumored Arsenal transfer targets. To think that silly season hasn’t even officially started.
No pls he is not good enough…
At 29 not really one for the future. Does not sound like a Wenger purchase unless right at right at the end of a window.
No poo-o-meter, no comment.
Ser Meryn Trant disapproves this transfer.
Being 29 is not too bad and to be fair many central defenders enter their prime around 29/30. I could see us getting him to play next to Kos for a couple of seasons, while the likes of Gabriel, Chambers (Rob Holding maybe) etc. get time to develop.
Mourinho, Klopp, Guardiola, Conte and Wenger in the same league. Should be fun.
At 29 Benatia seems abit old for a Wenger signing unless he get him at a bargain prize.
Ranieri was good for entertainment this year too. Really hope he gets to stick it to cuntsworth in a major way.
As for this story, he will be playing African cup of nations next January, so I can’t see why we would sign him.
Can’t see why we’d need another CB unless one of ours is on their way out. If I have one hope going into next season its that Chambers gets far more game time and is allowed to focus on developing his game as a centre back.
I won’t be shocked if Wenger goes for him as in recent times he enjoys buying weaklings as centre backs.
No he’s not good enough. Mert is better then him.
Napoli’s Koulibaly.
Now we are talking.
Thou we desperately need to sign a defender bt I doubt if he’s d one we need.His age,African going away in January, Elneny also and d incoming Mahrez.Mertesacker was our best defender for d season ,Gabriel still nt up to it and Koscielny was a let down. We need a grade a defender to pair Kosciely.Three people killed our season,Gabriel ,Koscielny and d injury to Carzola.
If I’m not wrong bayern currently have 5 cb on the books(hummels,boateng,batdstuber,benatia and Martinez). One at least from the last three will have to go however that is still a bit of a stretch from “arsenal are interested”
Holger Badstuber – comparable quality to Varane but slightly more possible. Slightly.
Great fuckin name though
Apparently he’s been ‘plagued by injuries’ since joining Bayern. Should fit right in here …
Yup, that clinches it. He’ll be at the Arsenal in no time.
Yup the medical team are probably redecorating Diaby’s room in preparation for his arrival.
Would rather uss going for Niklas Sule, and have him learrn from Per. Both similar players but sule is faster and very young
Id rather stick with who we have than get another 3rd choice dc for that money at his age. If he was 24/25 maybe
We probably need someone between 24 to 27yrs. That said, Benatia has experience and that is what is most critical to bring into this position. Not a bad deal considering if so. Remember should we land Granit (at25m) and spend on say a MOrata (at35m), that’s 60m outlay. Should be able to land Benatia for no more than 10m which keeps us at 70m and below the 80m transfer kitty (rumoured of course) Naturally we can offset a bit of the cost from say a sale of Walcott which should be substantial and possibly Szsc, Jenkinson. I think the other… Read more »
OTOH, Benatia could simply of course be one of the options on our target list.
With both the excellent Per and Koscielny over 30, we have to be very careful of the quality brought in here.Injuries may become again an issue and it is a massive risk to start with just 3 Cbacks as option.
Too injury prone for my taste. And didn’t look impressive when he played.
We should go for Samba instead 😉
The other thing I like about him is his mobility combined with aerial presence. But the main things that may count in his favour is that he is a very technical player for a Cback. He can keep the ball and that is a coomodity we need at the moment plus composure. We can ill afford to play other people’s games chasing potential in this position (see Jhn Stones…Everton solid defending this season presumably) at overrated prices. Proven quality is what we need and Medhi could be the sort of player (overlooked like Per and Koscielny) which is the correct… Read more »
Got to say buddy, I’ve found your comments on Benatia very well considered and reasoned, not going into hyperbole or jumping to an instant reaction, well done! For what it’s worth I agree on the principle that Mehdi Benatia would be a really intelligent signing at CB. For £10m he’s good value for money, an upgrade on Gabriel right now, and likely to be a better player than Per due to Per’s age and decreasing mobility, therefore giving an us an obvious first choice CB pair in Benatia and Koscielny, with a pair of younger players to step up in… Read more »
I seriously hope this hits the maximum poo on the scale as I really don’t want another almost 30’something centreback.
This makes sense. When fit, he is better than what we have and will give chambers time to develop. We can’t get a koulibaily/manolas because it would eat into our budget and we won’t be able to get a blue chip striker/wide forward(if we can’t get a wc striker.).
Not sure why people think 29 is old for a centre back. Imagine buying a player already at his peak… madness…
Complain when we buy old players, complain when we buy young players, we all love a moan.
He looked absolutely world-class at Roma.
I think we can do better than Per
Aubameyang and a first team quality CB please
Per is better than Gabriel at the moment. Why don’t you say we can do better than Gabriel who at times is positionally suspect. Koscielny has had his fair share of follies this season. Benatia comes with solid (mental) experience not to mention he has good skill on the ball which is something we need. He can play from the back or spread passes. At 29yrs, he will give us a good two seasons. The only issue in question would be his injury(ies). But if he is good enough for Bayern, at say 10m or less, a bargain and enough… Read more »
Its always the same with Mertesacker. He is solid but they can’t really play a high defensive line with him or Koscielny will have to cover half the pitch in case Mertesacker is caught too high up (lika against barcelona at home). Mert is a good player, he is really good at passing from deep (underrated in that area) but I think his limitations are a bit too obvious and limit the teams style of play. Agree that Flamini hasn’t been too bad but he is definitely not a player you win leagues or CL with. Giroud is mostly criticised… Read more »