“Out of the blue” – Arsenal now expected to wrap up surprise signing quickly

Arsenal are expected to come back in with an improved offer for Valencia defender Cristhian Mosquera and wrap up a deal pretty quickly.

That’s according to Charles Watts in his latest exclusive column for CaughtOffside, with the journalist explaining his understanding of the situation.

Although this story broke somewhat out of the blue, Watts also says he was aware of some interest in Mosquera for a while, with fairly tentative links dating quite far back.

Still, it seems Arsenal have moved quickly to agree terms with the Spanish centre-back and it now looks like the deal is expected to be completed quickly.

Cristhian Mosquera to Arsenal latest, according to Charles Watts

Discussing the Mosquera transfer in his weekly CaughtOffside column, Watts said: “Arsenal’s move for Cristhian Mosquera was one of those deals that suddenly comes out of the blue.

“There were tentative links a while back, but nothing massively serious, and then all of a sudden an offer had gone for the defender.

“At the time of writing this column there is no agreement between Arsenal and Valencia for the defender, with Arsenal’s opening offer having been rejected.

“Arsenal are expected to return imminently with an improved bid and with reports suggesting that personal terms have already been agreed with Mosquera, this feels like one that could be wrapped up pretty quickly.”

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Arsenal adding defensive depth

Arsenal had problems with injuries last season, including in defence as both Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White missed a lot of the season.

So from that point of view, a move for someone like Mosquera to come in and add cover looks like sensible business by the Gunners.

Still, it’s also fair to say that Mikel Arteta already has more depth at the back than in other parts of his squad, so perhaps it’s a bit surprising to see this emerge as a priority.