Arsenal to pay £60m to sign Bayer Leverkusen defender this summer

Arsenal have supposedly been advised to fork out £60m if they want to sign Bayer Leverkusen defender Edmond Tapsoba.

With David Luiz set to follow Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi out of the Emirates this summer, Mikel Arteta is thought to have focused on a deal for another centre back in the forthcoming window.

The Gunners have been credited with an interest in Tapsoba lately, with the Burkina Faso international becoming a pillar of the Leverkusen defence in the Bundesliga.

Nonetheless, Bild reports that the German outfit are not set to listen to offers lower than £60m for the defender, which could drive the Gunners to look somewhere else.

Arsenal have also been connected with moves for Nikola Milenkovic of Fiorentina and Sevilla’s Jules Kounde, however the latter is allegedly improbable to join the club given their absence of European football.

The 22-year-old scored two goals in 39 appearances for Leverkusen last season, and his contract at the BayArena doesn’t expire until the summer of 2026.