Arsenal and Chelsea have both made significant moves to sign Jerome Boateng from Bayern Munich this summer – as per reports.
Jerome Boateng is out of contract at Bayern in 2021 and right now there are no signs that the player will get a new deal at the club meaning there’s every chance that the defender could be on his way out at the end of the season.
Also, next season the Bavarians will be getting the services of Lucas Hernandez and Niklas Süle while David Alaba has also done a fine job at centre-back this campaign.
So some experts believe that Jerome Boateng could be warming the benches if he chooses to remain at Bayern for one more season.
Another major reason why the defender could look to head out is due to the club’s recent penalty on him for breaking the self-isolation rules in Germany when he went to Leipzig see his son and on his way back met with an accident.
Due to all these reasons both Arsenal and Chelsea are hopeful that a possible deal could be struck in the summer and are willing to make a move as soon as they get the green signal from their respective managers.
Is Jerome Boateng a sensible choice?
Both Arteta and Lampard are looking to bring in new defenders this summer but we are not quite sure that a 31-year-old centre-back is a rational move.
This season he has played in only 16 Bundesliga games and surely the World Cup winner is not the same defender he was a couple of seasons ago.
So to waste money on an old warhorse might be a bad move from both Chelsea as well as Arsenal especially when both the London sides have experience in the backline in the form of Antonio Rudiger and David Luiz respectively.
The likes of Kurt Zouma and Tomori have done more than a decent job at centre-back this season and we believe that the Blues boss needs to bring in a young defender and not someone like Jerome Boateng.
On the other hand, Arsenal have a host of central defenders amongst their ranks right now and Arteta could very well choose one of them rather than going out and splashing money on a 31-year-old.
UPDATE(09th April 2020):
Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick has sunk a number of hearts by claiming that Jerome Boateng has the full support of the club. This invariably means the defender is not likely to move out of the club at the end of this season.
‘We are all happy with his development,’ Flick said, via Metro.
‘We can support him as a coaching team, but it always depends on what he offers. In this regard, his development has been very positive.
‘We will do everything possible to do the contract if he decides to stay here. He has had our support so far and will continue to do so in the future.’
This will surely be a huge setback for both Chelsea and Arsenal who were looking to add a bit of experience in the back-line but to be honest this rumour of Boateng heading out of Bayern Munich has been doing the rounds for a number of years now.
While there’s still a chance that the German could look to play out the final days of his professional career in England but we feel after nine years with the Bavarians, the defender will hang his boots at the Allianz Arena itself.
