Arsenal eye defenders Timber and Simakan as Chelsea complete €73m Nkunku deal
NEW BLUE: French forward Christopher Nkunku has joined Chelsea
Arsenal have identified Ajax’s Jurriën Timber as their top target to strengthen in defence. The 22-year-old Netherlands international is keen on the move but the clubs are apart over the valuation, with Ajax demanding more than £30m.
RB Leipzig’s Mo Simakan is also on Arsenal’s list as Mikel Arteta pushes to reinforce a backline that struggled in April during William Saliba’s absence, conceding 11 goals in four games against Liverpool, West Ham, Southampton and Manchester City as the team fell away in the title race.
Simakan, who is 23 but part of the France Under-21 squad at the Euros that start on Wednesday, can play at centre-back or right-back. Timber is more a specialist central defender, although he has been used at right-back before this season. Arsenal will continue talks to try to secure Timber, who was pursued by Manchester United and their former Ajax manager, Erik ten Hag, last summer. The player ended up extending his contract to 2025.
Arsenal are also attempting to buy the midfielder Declan Rice and had an £80m offer rejected by West Ham last week. Arsenal intend to move quickly to secure Rice with Manchester City monitoring the situation as they await a decision from Ilkay Gündogan on whether he will extend his stay.
Timber’s Netherlands teammate Justin Kluivert, who is owned by Roma but spent this season on loan at Valencia, is wanted by Bournemouth. Negotiations for a permanent deal are continuing as Bournemouth try to bolster their squad after sacking Gary O’Neil as their manager and appointing Andoni Iraola.
Meanwhile Chelsea have completed the signing of France international Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig.
The 25-year-old made a pre-contract agreement to join the club in December but has now completed the move for a reported
€73m.
He scored 23 goals in 36 games for the Bundesliga side last season and becomes the first major arrival at Stamford Bridge since Mauricio Pochettino was confirmed as the club's new manager.
"I am incredibly happy to be joining Chelsea," Nkunku told the club's website. "A big effort was made to bring me to the club and I am looking forward to meeting my new coach and team-mates and showing the Chelsea supporters what I can do on the pitch."
Chelsea's co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley described Nkunku as one of European football's "standout attacking players".
“Christopher has proved himself one of the standout attacking players in European football over the past two seasons and will add quality, creativity and versatility to our squad," said Stewart and Winstanley.
“He has demonstrated his ability at the highest level with RB Leipzig and France and we look forward to him joining up with his new team-mates ahead of the new season.”
Guardian/Agencies
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