Arsenal have reportedly struck a verbal agreement with Valencia for centre-back Cristhian Mosquera to continue a summer of excessive spending.
During a window relentlessly dominated by talk of which striker Arsenal are going to sign, the club’s sudden interest in the 21-year-old Spanish defender came as something of a surprise.
Mosquera is one of Europe’s most highly rated young centre-backs, establishing himself in the heart of a Valencia side which finished in a respectable 12th place. The towering enforcer missed just one of the club’s 38 league games last season—they lost 7–1 in his absence.
With just one year left on his existing contract ahead of a summer of free agency, Valencia cannot expect to extract Mosquera’s full value. The Spanish outfit reportedly tried to derail Arsenal’s negotiations by offering the youngster a new contract, but he now appears London-bound.
The Gunners first settled on personal terms with Mosquera, as reported by The Athletic, before eventually finding a suitable transfer fee to placate Valencia. Fabrizio Romano reports that the final package will be less than €20 million (£17.3 million, $23.4 million) with an initial €15 million (£13 million, $17.5 million) to be paid upfront.
Despite boasting one of the Premier League’s best centre-back partnerships in the form of Gabriel Magalhães and William Saliba, Arsenal have been searching for more defensive cover this summer. The recruitment drive did not begin and end with Mosquera. As pointed out by The Athletic, Dean Huijsen was a keen target for the Gunners before he ultimately opted to leave Bournemouth for Real Madrid over the summer.
Mosquera’s relatively modest fee is just the latest in what promises to be one of the most expensive summers in Arsenal’s history.
On top of the £52 million ($70.1 million) set to be splashed on Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyökeres’s final fee of around £63.7 million ($85.8 million)—plus the £75 million ($102 million) already spent on Martin Zubimendi, Christian Nørgaard and Kepa Arrizabalaga—Arsenal’s outlay this year could comfortably exceed £200 million ($270 million) for just the second time in the club’s history.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Arsenal ‘Strike Agreement’ for Cristhian Mosquera, Bargain Transfer Package Revealed.