Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is keen to bring RB Leipzig defender Ibrahima Konate to the Emirates as a part of his summer rebuild of the squad, according to the Evening Standard.
Konate passed through the academy ranks at Sochaux, where he was given a place in the first team in January 2017, and he made his move to Leipzig on a free transfer only six months later. Since then, he has represented the German club on 88 occasions across all competitions, scoring four goals and assisting his teammates once.
This term, the 21-year-old has had problems with injuries. A torn muscle fibre and an ankle problem saw him miss a combined total of 13 matches, 10 of those in the Bundesliga where he has played only eight times so far; four from the start, and four as a substitute. He was available for all seven Champions League games, and the only one he didn’t appear in was the 0-2 defeat to Liverpool in the first leg of the round of 16.
Arsenal are apparently among a large number of club’s monitoring the situation surrounding the young Frenchman closely. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that Leipzig will be parting ways with Dayot Upamecano who is set to make his way to Bayern Munich at the end of the season, and it stands to reason to expect them to do what they can to avoid losing Konate as well. His contract does not expire before the summer of 2023, and they will probably hold out for a very large fee.
