Arsenal pursuing Dortmund ‘contract rebel’ to fill midfield void

Gundogan

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan could be available for £16m after the refusing a new deal with the struggling Bundesliga outfit.

According to the Mirror, Gundogan has been given a contract ultimatum with just 18 months left on his current terms alerting potential suitors over a possible exit in the near future should talks not go to plan.

Wenger is thought to have been made offers for the German international in the past and now the players agents are exploring the possibility of a next big move for the highly rated 24-year-old, with the Premier League high on the list of his preferred destinations.

The central midfielder had been out for over a year with a back problem which is a big risk for any club wishing to bid this January.

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Gundogan is a box-to-box midfielder who can also operate just in front of the back four but is also creative when it comes to the final third. He is a fine reader of the game, able to both stay on his feet to intercept passes and is strong in the tackle. He is known to be a visionary in possession and can dictate a game’s tempo with real authority and has a decent shot on him too.

This season he’s made 4 appearances in the Champions League with a passing accuracy of an impressive 91% which is better than Arteta’s 89% but Flamini takes the cake with 92% in the UCL this season (both Arsenal players managed 3 and 5 appearances respectively in the European competition). Gundogan managed an impressive 241 passes in his four appearances, far superior to Arteta’s 178 considering they have both played the same amount of minutes.

This is certainly testament to the way Dortmund play and suggests Gundogan could quite easily integrate into Arsenal’s passing game. His defensive statistics are also quite good having won 4 tackles (on par with Arteta) but managed less interceptions with Flamini and Arteta both bettering the German. While these are purely just statistics, Gundogan is a highly thought of midfielder within the Dortmund set-up and would be a potential upgrade on Arsenal’s deep lying midfield options.

Should we buy?

While Gundogan is an exciting talent on his day, he has yet to break into the top bracket of midfielders in Germany mainly due to injury. Others such as Lars Bender has been regularly linked with the Gunners but he also has yet to prove his ability on a consistent level.

Morgan Schneiderlin and Moussa Sissoko are potentially better and cheaper options, with the former a specialist defensive midfielder – exactly what we need. Gundogan is not necessarily a specialist in the position but, like Arteta, has the ability to anchor the midfield. For £16m it wouldn’t be a bad shout, but with the season going the way it is for Dortmund they cannot afford any exits especially in January. There is little chance Jurgen Klopp will be selling in January anyway, if he had six months left on his deal then perhaps but not 18.

Rumour Rater: 2/5

1 – Never going to happen
2 – Unlikely
3 – Could be possible
4 – Likely
5 – Done deal

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