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Arsenal transfer news: Chris Waddle tells Unai Emery which area he MUST target today
ARSENAL shouldn’t be trying to sign Ivan Perisic - they should be after a defender.
That’s according to former Newcastle midfielder Chris Waddle.
The Gunners have been after multiple players in the January transfer window, including the likes of Yannick Carrasco and Denis Suarez, who they’ve now signed.
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But Perisic, who was linked with Manchester United last summer, isn’t looking like joining Arsenal either.
Waddle believes that Unai Emery shouldn’t be after the Croatian anyway, as they need to strengthen in a completely different position.
"I don’t understand why Arsenal are targeting Perisic,” he said.
“Arsenal's issues are with their defence so Perisic won't make a difference.
“They have a lot of talent going forward so they should be focusing on bringing in defensive players not attacking players.”
A potential deal, however, has fallen through because Inter want to negotiate an obligatory fee for Perisic to join in the summer.
Inter wanted Arsenal to pay a loan fee of £5m before paying £30-35m for the World Cup finalist’s services.
On Perisic’s future, Inter director Beppe Marotta hinted that Perisic waned to leave the club.
“We’ve listened to the desire of the player,” he said.
“But we must also take into account any clubs who are interested in him and his asset value, which represents the investment Inter made when they signed him.”
Suarez, however, joined the north London side on loan on Thursday, with a view to make it permanent in the summer.
The Spanish midfielder lacked sufficient game time at the Nou Camp, but Emery will look to thrust him into the starting line-up straight away, it is thought.
Suarez played under Emery when the two were at Sevilla in the 2014/15 season.