Arsenal’s long-time target, Gabriele Corbo has reportedly already undergone a medical with Bayern Munich. The 18-year-old has been turning heads in the Serie B with Spezia Calcio and has also caught the eyes of plenty of his Italian youth team appearances.
Corbo plays in the centre-back position and was contracted with the Italian outfit till the summer of 2018. Now that Bayern has successfully signed him up, who can Arsenal sign as an alternative?
Josha Vagnoman
The 17-year-old is currently a part of Bundesliga outfit, Hamburger SV and has drawn the eyes of Arsenal’s head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat. The wonderkid is valued at £2.66m and Arsene Wenger would like nothing better than to bring him to London and train him for a probable future at the Emirates.
Vagnoman has played every single game for the Germany U17 team and had travelled to India for the FIFA U17 World Cup. He was a part of the squad which reached the quarter-finals only to be knocked out by Brazil. He was also called up to train with Die Rothosen senior team last week and Bernd Hollerbach wanted to include him in the team for the match against Borussia Dortmund. Unfortunately, the teenager has still not signed a professional contract and that deemed him unfit to appear for a Bundesliga fixture.
Vagnoman is a versatile presence on the defensive end of the pitch and can play both as a centre-half and a left-back. He has played 12 games for the Hamburger U19 team this season and scored twice.
He is on the Bayern Munich as well and Wenger can delve out a bit of revenge by signing this young starlet.
Abdou Diallo
The 21-year-old Mainz player has been in prolific form and has cemented a spot in the Mainz first team with 26 appearances and 3 goals this season.
Diallo has featured for youth sides of France national team ranging from the U16s to the U21s. The Tours-born centre-half is one of the hottest young prospects in the Ligue 1 and can follow the line of French players who have flourished under Arsene Wenger at North London.
Panagiotis Retsos
The 19-year-old is breaking waves in the Bundesliga this season having appeared 27 times already and often selected ahead of Sven Bender in the centre-back role. Retsos signed with Bayer Leverkusen last summer for €22m – a massive figure for a teenager but if you have seen him on the pitch, you can understand where Olympiacos was coming from.
The Johannesburg-born defender is best suited to the centre-back role but can play as a full-back as well. He impressed in the Europa League in the previous season for the Piraeus and was handed over the captain’s armband in the club’s 0-0 draw against Atromitos last year – the youngest captain in the club’s history.
