Monday, August 19, 2013

Arsenal launch triple swoop for Cabaye, Kondogbia & Uchida



The Gunners have submitted formal bids for the Newcastle midfielder and Japanese full-back, and made an enquiry over Sevilla's 20-year-old French star.

Arsenal are ready to begin a late summer spending spree after launching a triple swoop for Yohan Cabaye, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Atsuto Uchida,.

The Gunners had a £10 million bid for Newcastle midfielder Cabaye rejected on Monday before turning their attention to Sevilla powerhouse Kondogbia.

Arsenal made an enquiry rather than a formal offer for the 20-year-old midfield anchorman and were told he would only be sold if the €20m buy-out clause in his
contract is met.

It is believed that the London club are also waiting for a response from Schalke after making a €7m bid for Uchida, the Bundesliga club’s right-back.

The frenzy of offers has come on the back of Arsenal’s 3-1 opening-day Premier League defeat to Aston Villa and a summer in which they have failed to make a senior signing despite making bids for a string of marquee players including Luis Suarez, Gonzalo Higuain, Marouane Fellaini and Luiz Gustavo.

Arsenal have long held an interest in Cabaye but the timing of the bid is likely to have incurred the wrath of Newcastle, given that the Frenchman is expected to start their league opener against Manchester City on Monday night.

Sevilla’s outspoken president Jose Maria del Nido has said that he would consider it an “attack” on his club if anyone tried to buy Kondogbia this summer but has admitted that the France international has a €20m (£17.2m) buy-out clause in his contract.

Kondogbia joined Sevilla from Lens for €3m 12 months ago and offers similar versatility to Luiz Gustavo, who rejected Arsenal to join Wolfsburg last week, in that he can fill in at centre-back and at left-back.

Last week Arsenal had targeted Japanese defender Uchida to provide defensive cover this season and be groomed as a long-term replacement for Sagna.

Wenger wants a right-back who can fit in with the Gunners’ playing style and be groomed to challenge Carl Jenkinson for the first-team slot if Sagna leaves when his contract expires next summer.

Arsene Wenger has taken action to reinforce a squad that is looking increasingly threadbare after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain became the latest senior player to face a long spell on the sidelines.

The England international had a scan on Monday on a serious knee injury sustained in the Villa defeat on Saturday, with Arsenal set to receive the results on Tuesday.

Wenger is already without Mikel Arteta, who is out for up to a month with a thigh injury picked up in training last week, and skipper Thomas Vermaelen, who will be missing until mid-October with a stress fracture of his back.

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