Arsenal are currently monitoring the progress of German defender, Josha Vagnoman and have joined the race to sign him in the summer. 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. Prying him away from the hands of the bosses at Volksparkstadion will be tough but Wenger is well adept in these situations.
He has already signed Konstantinos Mavropanos from PAS Giannina in the January window – a 20-year-old centre-back and tied down the services of Eddie Nketiah, Matt Macey and Ben Sheaf to long-term deals. The latter trio has been rewarded this season with their senior team debuts and Nketiah shone brightly after scoring twice in the 2-1 win over Norwich City in the EFL League Cup.
Developing the youth squad is one of Wenger’s top-most priorities as the manager of the North London club and Vagnoman will be provided with the opportunity to prove his worth in the big leagues. The Premier League is a different climate all together and in the world of top-pedigree professional football, players are better off preparing for it as early as possible.
Arsenal are also in danger of losing one of their younger defenders after this season – Krystian Bielik. The 20-year-old Polish defender’s contract is set to run out in June and Birmingham City has been reported to be his next destination. His exit will open up space for further additions and Vagnoman can be the ideal one.
