Arsenal to sell Welbeck or Mustafi to fund World Cup winner signing

The Arsenal board are happy to sanction a £25m deal for Besiktas star Domagoj Vida provided the Gunners can shift Shkodran Mustafi or Danny Welbeck in the coming days.

The defender was impressive as Croatia reached the final of the World Cup in Russia and his performances have not gone unnoticed by Arsenal’s head of recruitment Sven Mislintat.

 

Arsenal already have a wealth of options at centre-back but Emery wants a long-term partner for Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Laurent Koscielny is currently sidelined with an achilles injury.

Mustafi has failed to convince Emery in pre-season and the Gunners are open to offers for the German before the transfer window closes.

Danny Welbeck has less than a year left on his deal and has been told he can leave, with Everton interested. One or both of their departures would free up funds for Emery to make moves in the transfer market and the Sun say he will use the money to go for Vida.

The 29-year-old only joined Besiktas last January for £8m but the Turkish giants would not stand in his way for the right fee. Arsenal kick off their Premier League campaign with a clash against champions Manchester City and will be without Sead Kolasinac after he was ruled out for a minimum of eight weeks.

Vida was an active member of the Croatia national under-21 team.

On 23 May 2010, he made his full international debut in Croatia’s 2–0 win against Wales in Osijek, entering as a substitute for Darijo Srna in the 80th minute.Three days later, he played the full 90 minutes in a goalless draw at Estonia.

In 2011, he featured for Croatia in four UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers, including both play-off matches against Turkey, which saw them securing a place in the finals. His only appearance at the finals came when he was in the starting lineup for Croatia’s final group match, a 1–0 defeat to Spain, after which they were eliminated from the tournament.

On 10 September 2013, Vida scored his first goal (Leon Benko provided the assist) for the national side in the 65th minute of a friendly match against South Korea, played at the Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju.

Vida was a part of the Croatian squad at the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament in Brazil, but remained as an unused substitute in the tournament. He regained his place as a regular during the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying, making nine appearances, and also appeared in three matches at the finals, where the team were eliminated by Portugal in the round of 16.

Vida and his Croatian teammates Vedran Ćorluka (left) and Dejan Lovren(right) celebrate after Vida had scored a goal during the 2018 World Cup quarter-final against Russia.


In June 2018, he was named in Croatia’s final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Vida scored a header in the quarter-final against hosts Russia to give his side a 2-1 lead in extra time and when the match finished 2-2, Vida converted his spot kick in the penalty shootout to help his side advance. Vida picked up a runners-up medal as France defeated his side 4-2 in the final.

Along with national teammate Mario Mandzukic who also comes from Slavonia, Vida is popular among teammates and has been described as a “big-hearted person and a big-hearted player. He’s a big joker.” Although Vida’s “happy go lucky” persona had landed him in controversy at times, it reportedly “helps him deal with the immense nerves players experience in, for example, the closing stages of a World Cup”. This was evident against Russia in the 2018 World Cup as most of the Croatian team was nervous, as captain Luka Modrić failed to convert a potential game-winning penalty kick near the end of extra time, but in the shootout Vida eagerly stepped up (reportedly taking the place of Josip Pivaric) and coolly dispatched his kick

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