Arsenal Opinion: Eder Balanta is the central defender that Arsenal need
According to a recent report by The Irish Mirror, Premier League giants Arsenal are said to be looking at the possibility of signing Colombian international centre-half Eder Balanta in a cut-price deal this summer.
The man, who currently plies his trade FC Basel in the Swiss League, has just a year left on his current contract and is said to be available for what is an extremely meagre fee relative to the current football standards – £4m.
Owing to the fact that Unai Emery’s men weren’t able to work their way back into the Champions League for next season after falling to defeat at the hands of bitter rivals Chelsea in the Europa League final, it has been suggested that their summer transfer kitty would be worth only around £40m with the rest of the signings to be funded solely by player sales.
Not playing in the Champions League must be hard enough but learning that his rebuild of the squad for next season will be worth just £40m will certainly be a hard pill to swallow.
Arsenal aim to challenge for the league title and a place in Europe’s elite club competition every season but with such a nominal figure available to him, this could prove to be much harder than he initially expected.
The cracks that need to be filled within this side are seemingly countless at this point and they have to be dealt with one by one.
While attacking creativity has become one of their main lacking points, the defending by the experienced Gunners back-line this season has been nothing short of chaotic. The need for quality centre-halves is now higher than ever at the Emirates stadium.
While Laurent Koscielny’s rising age is starting to show, Shkodran Mustafi has turned into a Premier League laughing stock, owing to the many defensive blunders he’s committed this season.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos is one of the only players who’s actually had a season that can be classed as above average.
The addition of Eder Balanta would certainly be a step in the right direction for the Gunners.
He has the right skill-set and attributes to excel in the physical and aggressive nature of the Premier League and Arsenal need a combative yet intelligent player like him to add a little more energy into what has been a fairly static Gunners side.
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The Colombian hasn’t been a regular in the Basel first team over the campaign but apparently, Unai Emery has seen enough of the 26-year-old to make a move for him.
With just 20 appearances and 2 goals to his name this season, he has certainly impressed a lot of important people and considering how badly the Gunners need a defender, this move could well take shape in the coming weeks.
