Arsenal are causing concern at Borussia Dortmund according to German reports after making an offer for Real Valladolid right-back Ivan Fresneda. Both clubs have had a long-standing interest in the teenager stretching back to at least January, though the Gunners may have moved ahead of their German counterparts.
Bild have claimed that Dortmund are planning on reinvesting Jude Bellingham’s transfer fee on three players this summer, one of which is Fresneda after an impressive La Liga campaign. Valladolid are currently sat 18th in the table with one game remaining, but victory at home to fellow relegation candidate Getafe on the final day of the season will ensure their survival.
Fresneda has played a key role for the club, attracting interest from Newcastle alongside Arsenal and Dortmund. The German club are said to be especially wary of the Gunners’ ‘lucrative offer’ that has been tabled, though no details were revealed on the potential fee.
The defender has a release clause of just over £25million but whether Mikel Arteta’s outfit are prepared to pay that outright remains to be seen. Fresneda has admitted that he likes the Gunners boss “a lot” in a potential nod to where his future may lie.
“The fans have been very supportive from the moment I made my debut and they’ve been asking me to stay,” Fresneda told The Athletic. “My agent keeps me very much on the sidelines. I don’t really like to look at what a journalist might have written, but I’ve lived everything with a lot of emotion. I’m very grateful to the club, to the previous manager, and I’m trying to handle it as naturally as possible.
“I’m very young, I have to go step by step, not go backwards. Being the age I am, you have to keep improving and I’m doing that at Valladolid. Everyone would like to go to the best teams in the world and that is one of my ambitions, of course.
“I like Arteta a lot because I think he’s a great coach; I follow the European leagues and I think the work he’s doing with his club is fantastic. But now with [Paulo] Pezzolano and before with Pacheta we do that style of play, and that style is the one I like the most.”
Arsenal’s plans for Fredneda if they do sign him remains to be seen, as the youngster could depart on loan in search of more first-team experience.
However, the Gunners’ lack of quality depth in defence was apparent in the past few months as injuries to William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiasyu played a part in their title challenge being derailed, something Arteta may feel that Fresneda could help address as competition for current right-back Ben White.
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