Guardiola wants £20m Arsenal man as first Bayern signing

People have questioned how incoming manager Pep Guardiola is going to better Bayern Munich when he replaces Jupp Heynecks in the summer, but with a reported £270 MILLION being available to him to build his own squad he will certainly have the resources for complete domination. First up on the Spaniard's shopping list is Arsenal centre-back Laurent Koscielny according to the Express.

The 27-year-old has been a towering figure in the Gunners' backline this season and has earned high praise from manager Arsene Wenger. The wily old Frenchman has rotated between Koscielny, Thomas Varmaelen and the monstrous Per Mertesacker this campaign and has publicly labelled them as some of the best defenders in Europe.

It is not like Bayern need to strengthen their defence, however, as they have conceded just 14 goals in this season's Bundesliga. With Dante and Jerome Boateng forming one of the most reliable centre-back pairings at the top of football and even Barcelona could not penetrate the Bavarian backline in the two-leg Champions League semi-final.

In order to steer Bayern away from their France international, Arsenal have slapped a £20m price tag on his expansive forehead.

Arsene Wenger and co are just hoping that they can slip in Andre Arshavin, Mourane Chamakh and Gervinho in the deal should it transpire.

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Comments

[Orphal Mandy]

Arsene Wenger should be wary of selling his old and reliable players. Defenders are not easy to come by and to slam a high price on his most reliable defender in the hope of fending off ambitious clubs is not the best tactic. The manager should stamp his unwillingness to do any sort of deal. It is his appetite for quick profit that made him to sell RVP to his rival manager, AF. He shouldn't contemplate selling Koscielny, no matter the cost. If he must, then the price must be prohibitive such that he could easily replace him with another world class defender. But, the manager must know that it takes time for a new player to adapt. By now also, AW should raise his ambition to avoid selling to rival clubs, except where the price is outrageously attractive. How does he hope to win trophies next season if he is thinking of selling his best players again because of profit?

[Z]

So first as in after Goetze?

[happisoul]

PLEASE, NOT AGAIN, NOT EVEN KOSCIENLY - OUR BEST DEFENDER

[Mojo]

Kos is invaluable to our quad... but he is a defender ... i mean, you have a ''reported' 270 million!!!! Im sorry, but no defender is worth over 20 million, that would make kos one of the most expensive cbs ever! ... if someone came in with that sort of offer, i would be tempted!

I know i started with 'kos is invaluable' but i mean, that invaluable player cost us 8.5 million! if we could get over double that value for a defender and bring in another then thats pretty amazing business.

And I know... we do not want to sell players, thats not how you build a winning side.... but when a jumped up team with more money then brains wants to offer you striker money for a defender then you have to think about it