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Why Arsenal must sign this 35 million pounds rated defender

If reports in England are to be believed, Premier League trio Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City are set for a transfer tussle for Inter Milan’s £35 million full-back Achraf Hakimi.

Why Arsenal must sign this 35 million pounds rated defender

Bengaluru, Feb 4: If reports in England are to be believed, Premier League trio Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City are set for a transfer tussle for Inter Milan’s £35 million full-back Achraf Hakimi. Interest in the Moroccan international is thought to be very high but the Premier League trio are believed to be leading the race.

Following the impact the 22-year-old has had at Inter Milan following his move from Real Madrid, the last thing Antonio Conte would probably want is to lose one of his best and most promising players but with Inter struggling financially, the Nerazzurri are cornered and have no option but to sell in order to balance their books and Hakimi is on of their most marketable players.

While both Manchester City and Chelsea being in a much more favourable place to land a talented footballer like Hakimi, Arsenal have a big advantage over their rivals and that is less competition for places. With Hector Bellerin strongly linked with an exit from the Emirates and Cedric Soares being his closest competitor, Hakimi is likely to be an automatic choice at right-back for the Gunners.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles, another competitor for the right-back spot, has also been loaned out to West Bromwich Albion for the rest of the season which shows that the 23-year-old is well below in the pecking order. Hakimi is just 22 years of age and has already shown that he is capable of reaching the very top thanks to his all-round display although he has been used in a much more adventurous role at both Inter and Borussia Dortmund previously.

Capable of playing either as a right-back or a right wing-back, Hakimi is also equally comfortable on the left hand side. He has been mostly used as a right-sided wing-back in recent years and due to that, he contributes a lot more attacking wise compared to most traditional full-backs. However, his defensive duty is pretty impressive which is evident from his 1.4 tackles, 0.7 interceptions and 0.5 blocks per game.

Both Manchester City and Chelsea have multiple options at right-back with the Cityzens having Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker while the Blues having skipper Cesar Azpilicueta and Reece James in their ranks respectively. Unless they lose at least one of their options, Hakimi moving to either club does not make much sense and Arsenal must take advantage of that to sort out their right-back position for many years to come.

Story first published: Thursday, February 4, 2021, 17:33 [IST]
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