Transfer Centre

Arsenal eyeing January move for Evan Ndicka?

By George Priestman | 20 October 2022

Arsenal are reportedly eyeing up a move for Eintracht Frankfurt's Evan Ndicka with Mikel Arteta looking to bolster his defence in January.

Arsenal are reportedly considering a January move for Eintracht Frankfurt defender Evan Ndicka.

Ndicka, 23, is out of contract at the end of the season and despite the club wanting him to sign a new deal, they could be tempted to sell him in January to avoid losing him for free in the summer.

According to The Evening Standard, it could mean that the player may be available at a cut-price deal.

Given that Gabriel Magalhaes is their only left-footed centre-back, Arsenal want to bring in someone to provide competition to the Brazilian defender.

However, they could face competition from Juventus and Roma, as a report from Il Romanista claims both clubs are monitoring the defender.

The Gunners had targeted the likes of Lisandro Martinez and Calvin Bassey at centre-back in the summer before opting to sign full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City.

With a young defence that includes William Saliba, Ben White and Gabriel, it is clear that Arteta is keen to add more youth to his squad in January or even in the summer when Ndicka's contract expires.

Having developed as a youth player at French club Auxerre, Ndicka had only made 14 senior appearances before signing a five-year deal with Frankfurt.

Last season he played an integral part in the club's Europa League triumph, as he started 10 matches as well as playing 100 minutes in the final against Rangers.

Ndicka has also been an ever-present in the side this season, starting every game in the Bundesliga and the Champions League so far and only missing seven minutes of action in total when he was substituted in the 3-1 win over VfB Stuttgart.

The 6ft 3in defender has represented his country in every age group at youth level but is yet to make his senior debut.