It looks like Arsenal are only interested in trying to sign young players this summer, with the next prodigy on the list being Matthias Ginter of Freiburg, a centre back who has emerged as one of the most promising players in the Bundesliga this season.
It’s rare to see centre backs starting in the lineups at a very young age, but Ginter, 19, hit the ground running after coming out of the Freiburg youth setup, already appearing 26 times for the senior side (23 in the Bundesliga) since coming up from the youth team in 2012.
For Arsenal, this might signal two things – adding depth to their centre back position, knowing that Per Mertesacker isn’t going to be effective for much longer, or simply preparing themselves for the chance that Laurent Koscielny is actually tempted by the offers coming his way (Bayern Munich?) and decided to leave after his best season so far for the gunners.
Ginter, who has appeared a few times for the Germany U-19 setup, is valued at around €5 million, and will probably be sold for a little bit more if Arsenal do try and make this into a serious business. There’s also the option of trying to make Ginter into that defensive midfielder it seems Arsenal have been missing for a very long time, as he has appeared in that role a few times during the previous season.
As we mentioned, Ginter isn’t the only youngster Arsenal are after. The headline grabber recently has been Stevan Jovetic of Fiorentina, but he’s already a made star, and not some diamond in the rough that needs to be groomed. Yaya Sanogo of Auxerre, Clement Grenier of Lyon and Aleksandar Mitrovic from Partizan Belgrade fall a bit better into that mold, with Arsenal rumored and linked to all four of them. Eventually, at least one of them should become “the next big thing” for Arsene Wenger next season.