Arsenal target Barcelona prodigy for problem position

Stuart Telford

• 2 Jun 2024 11:00 BST
• 3 min read

Arsenal have a problem at left-back - one they are reportedly ready to address with acquisition of a Barcelona wonderkid.

Arsenal will back Mikel Arteta in this summer's transfer market having once again come so close to toppling Manchester City in the Premier League.

The Gunners only finished two points off City's title-settling pace, and while they had the most miserly defence in the division, left-back proved a problem position, with four different players tried there over the campaign.

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Kieran Tierney has admitted he has no future in North London after his loan to Real Sociedad. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jakub Kiwior, he largely shared responsibility in his stead, have since been linked with moves to Bayern Munich and AC Milan respectively.

And now a key transfer target has emerged.

"Arsenal have asked about Barcelona prospect Mikayil Faye," report The Daily Mail, who also outline that the competition for the 19-year-old could be fierce.

"Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and Liverpool have all been following Faye's progress with Bayern, particularly, collating a lot of information… several sides including Manchester United have [also] been checking in…"

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How good is Faye?

While Zinchenko is often accused of a lack of defensive rigour and Kiwior attacking shortcomings, Faye is an asset in either direction.

A powerfully-built 6'1" athlete, he still has some filling out to do, but has already been trusted to play and centre-back and left-back by club and country.

He also has a thunderous shot in his locker. He scored a spectacular long-range goal on his international debut for Senegal against Gabon in March and followed that up with a thumping free-kick against Osasuna a week later.

Faye is valued at just €800,000 by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, but Barca can now expect many times that as they look to balance the books with what might be a bittersweet sale.