Mikel Arteta eyeing two long-term top defensive targets to shield Arsenal’s defense

Arsenal’s coach Mikel Arteta would be desperate to conquer the Premier League title at any cost, and he would have given the green light to the club’s sporting direction headed by Edu Gaspar to sign a new defender during the January transfer window, where the Spanish manager will try to reinforce the squad to shield the team’s defense for the second part of the season.

In this sense, according to the English journal Daily Mail, the manager would have started to eye some potential names for the team’s defense, lining up two top targets to strengthen one of the weakest parts of the squad due to the absences of Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu due to serious injuries.

Following these sources, the wishlist handled by Arsenal’s sporting direction would include two important 24-year-old players from Bundesliga, who would have already proven their quality and versatility, qualities required by Mikel Arteta to have an hybrid role in the Gunners’ defense. The players would be Borussia Dortmund 's Nico Schlotterbeck, and Bayern Munchen's Matthijs de Ligt, highly admired by Arsenal 's coaching staff.

The Gunners are exploring a third cheaper option

However, the price-point and contract situation of both players would make them infeasible for January deals, and Arsenal could try with a third and more plausible option to reinforce their defense, as they would be also tracking the Dutch 17-year-old defender Jorrel Hato from Ajax according to the English Football site The Athletic.