Arsenal have reportedly asked Real Betis defender if they can sign defender Aissa Mandi on loan this month ahead of a €30million summer transfer. Gunners boss Unai Emery is desperately scouring the market for defensive reinforcements during the January window, with Hector Bellerin this week joining Rob Holding in suffering a season-ending injury. But with finances tight in north London, Emery has admitted his side can only look to the loan market this month – leading the club to launch one or two sneaky enquiries.
And having failed to convince Manchester United to let Eric Bailly move to Emirates Stadium on loan, as revealed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, it seems Arsenal have already turned their attentions elsewhere. According to El Desmarque, Emery has now made Mandi one of his top priorities having been impressed by his performances this season. The Algerian is valued at €30m (£26m) by his side – a fee Arsenal are willing to meet – but only in the summer.
Arsenal boss Unai Emery admitted that it will be difficult to sign players in January, but that the club will look at possible additions. Therefore, the Gunners have reportedly tentatively asked Betis if they’d consider loaning him out now, with a view to a permanent summer transfer. Like United with Bailly, however, Betis are likely to reject the approach from Arsenal. The 27-year-old has made 27 appearances across all competitions this season, including 20 in LaLiga as Betis push for European football for the second successive season.
Ahead of Arsenal’s clash with Manchester United, it’s been revealed that Alexis Sanchez will play against Arsenal on Friday evening having returned from injury in time to visit his former club with Manchester United. The FA Cup fourth round clash pits Sanchez against the team he left this time last year, as part of a swap deal which saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan sign for Arsenal in return. Sanchez’s time at Old Trafford has been largely unsuccessful in the 12 months since, and he’s started just five Premier League matches matches this season.
Admittedly, the Chile international has missed a large portion of the campaign through injury, and he’s only been fit to feature in three matches of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign as caretaker manager. He played 27 minutes of a 2-0 defeat of Reading on January 2 before starting the FA Cup third round win at Reading three days later, but failed to make it off the bench last week in the narrow 2-1 home defeat of Brighton. Sanchez returned to training in the days leading up to Saturday’s match, and now that he’s had another whole week to get match fit, Solskjaer is ready to let him feature against the Gunners.