Arsenal interested in Udinese defender
Arsenal are among the clubs reportedly interested in signing Rodrigo Becao from Udinese in January.
Standing 6’3” tall, Becao is a centre-back of formidable frame who has so far played nine Serie A matches this season for Le Zebrette, nailing a goal and an assist apiece.
Having risen through the youth ranks at EC Bahia, Becao spent a year on loan at CSKA Moscow before moving to Udine for a reported fee of €1.6 million in 2019. Three years and 108 Serie A appearances later, Transfermarkt has him valued at €10m at the age of 26. He is currently out of action with a muscular injury he picked up in the goalless draw against Lazio on October 16.
Arsenal’s options in the heart of defence aren’t exactly slim at the moment, with Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba currently forming the preferred partnership, while Ben White mostly plays right-back these days. There is also Rob Holding as a relatively decent, experienced backup option, and Tahekiro Tomiyasu, who has also been playing out wide most of the time since arriving from Bologna last summer. The Japan international is reportedly attracting interest from Juventus, but Arsenal aren’t likely to sanction a sale of his services any time soon with manager Mikel Arteta finding his quality quite useful.
Nonetheless, Arsenal are involved in what promises to be a fierce title race in the Premier League this season against Manchester City, sitting five points clear of the defending champions at this point. With that in mind, it only stands to reason to strengthen the ranks for the hectic second part of the season, with injuries an unfortunate but likely side-effect of the schedule tightened to make room for the ongoing World Cup. It will surely put a lot of strain on all players involved in the tournament in Qatar, and it’s common sense really to have as much backup at the manager’s disposal as possible.
