Arsenal Want Baines To Replace Clichy
Arsene Wenger has set his sights on Leighton Baines as his number one transfer target for next season.
With it looking increasingly likely that Gael Clichy will leave the club having so far failed to sign a contract extension, Wenger has set his sights on the Everton and England left-back.
Baines, 26, would be available for around £10million as cash-strapped Everton will be forced to generate revenue via the sale of players, with the sought-after Jack Rodwell also likely to leave Goodison Park this summer.
Arsenal have been searching for a left-back since it became clear that Clichy was stalling over his contract offer. Having been impressed by Celtic’s Emilio Izaguirre, Arsenal are now set to go for Baines who would provide the Premier League experience to slot straight into the first team.
The plateaued development of Keiran Gibbs has forced Wenger to look elsewhere for a first choice left-back for next season, and the attacking prowess of Baines would provide the perfect replacement for Clichy.
Has Clichy been made a contract offer and is just refusing it or have we not offered him one? He’s made a few too many mistakes for all of our liking but left back is really not the major area of concern in this team. If we were to get a better replacement in for Clichy I wouldn’t mind letting him go but we won’t. We’ll probably lose Gael for £5m, put our faith in Kieran “perma-crock” Gibbs and probably end up playing Eboue at left back next season.
Plus all of these potential replacements would cost £15m+. Money that would eat into our budget for other, much more important, areas.