Merih Demiral joined Serie A champions Juventus for a fee of €18 million from Sassuolo during the summer but it looks like he could be on his way out during the January transfer window.
The Serie A outfit have the likes of De Ligt, Bonucci and Chiellini who all play in the same position as Demiral so its no secret that the Turkish international has played only three league games this season.
And if he decides to stick around in Turin until the end of the season, the defender wouldn’t play too many more games either.
So naturally, the player wants to move out of the club and even Juventus are ready to offload him at the start of the new year.
A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Arsenal have been keeping tabs on Merih Demiral and could make a move during the January transfer window after sending scouts to watch him in action.
Now though as per the latest reports, Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City have also shown an interest in signing the 21-year-old centre-back.
As per the report, the Foxes are ready to offer €30m for Merih Demiral meaning they are now the front-runners to sign the defender when the transfer window opens.
Arsenal though are by no means out of the race since signing a defender is their utmost priority during the January transfer window and they are willing to spend big in order to bring in a new centre-back.
This is why the North London club can easily match the Leicester bid of €30 million but what the hierarchy will now have to decide is whether they would want to spend money and energy in trying to fight Leicester for Merih Demiral or do they move to another target?
UPDATE(3rd January 2020):
The Gunners have now confirmed that defender Calum Chambers will be out for a significant amount of time.
The club said in an injury update: “Further to the injury sustained during the match against Chelsea on Sunday, we can confirm that Calum ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee.
“Calum has had successful surgery in London on Thursday morning. The rehabilitation process is expected to take between six to nine months. Everyone at the club will be supporting Calum to ensure he is back on the pitch as soon as possible.”
And now as per the latest updated, it looks like Arsenal are leading the race to sign the Juventus centre-back Merih Demiral.
The Serie A outfit are currently demanding somewhere around £40 million for the services of the centre-back and given the state of Arsenal’s defence right now, Mikel Arteta will surely not shy away from paying such an amount.
