Arsenal and Leicester City have all been in the hunt to sign Juventus defender Merih Demiral during the January transfer window.
Merih Demiral joined Serie A champions Juventus for a fee of €18 million from Sassuolo during the summer but so far he’s had very limited appearances under Maurizio Sarri.
And with the likes of De Ligt, Bonucci and Chiellini ahead of him in the pecking order, there have been several reports that Demiral could be on his way out of Turin this month.
A number of top clubs across Europe have been keeping tabs on the player and for the longest time, it seemed like Arsenal and Leicester are the two front runners in signing the central defender.
Now though it looks like all the interested clubs will put out of the transfer after reports have confirmed that Merih Demiral has picked up anterior cruciate ligament damage.
Juventus have released an official statement which claims the defender will undergo surgery which invariably means he will be out for a long time.
The statement read: “During the game last night, Merih Demiral sustained a sprain to his left knee.
“The diagnostic tests carried out at J | Medical this morning revealed injury to the anterior cruciate ligament along with associated injury to the meniscus.
“Surgical intervention will be required in the coming days.”
This will be a huge setback to the likes of Leicester City and Arsenal who are eager to bring in defensive reinforcements this month.
While the Foxes are going firmly we don’t think this miss will hurt them too badly but the same cannot be said about Arsenal who have just lost Calum Chambers to an injury.
Mikel Arteta is desperate to bring in a new central defender and for some time it looked like Merih Demiral would be that player but now with the injury it seems like the Spanish boss will have to look elsewhere.
