Africa Press-Nigeria:<\/p>\n
Former Nigeria and Enyimba striker Victor Ezeji has urged FA Cup winners Arsenal to prioritise signing a defender before Atletico Madrid Thomas Partey, and sees Leicester City’s Caglar Soyuncu as the ideal man to improve the Gunners’ backline.<\/p>\n
The Ghana international is regarded as one of the best in his position in Europe and has been constantly linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium with his buyout clause set at \u20ac50 million. There has been confirmation of talks between both parties but no deal has yet been struck.<\/p>\n
Ezeji acknowledges the importance of having a player of Partey\u2019s quality in the Arsenal team, but believes a defender needs to be top of the list to solve some of the club\u2019s long-existing woes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem of Arsenal has been in defence,” the two-time Caf Champions League winner told Goal. “It\u2019s very difficult for you to predict that Arsenal will not concede a goal because of the way their set-up has been.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing forward they can score goals with the likes of [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, [Alexandre] Lacazette and [Nicolas] Pepe,” he added. “They can score as many goals as they wish to in any game but their problem has been defensive and I think if they can bring Partey there will stability in midfield and he will also shield the backline.<\/p>\n
The Gunners conceded 48 goals in the Premier League last season with the defence exposed on many occasions, although Ezeji also believes that Partey would contribute to their overall defensive work.<\/p>\n
\u201cPartey is a good buy no doubt, but Arsenal must do something to their defensive line,” he added. \u201cIf I\u2019m to suggest they should go for a defender because their defence is very porous at the moment, [then] going for a player like Soyuncu is not a bad idea but that is if Leicester City are ready to let him go.<\/p>\n
“David Luiz is not that bad, but his mistakes are very costly so they need someone that can put him on his toes. Sometimes players relax and don\u2019t really have that motivation, but once they see competition they know if they flop, somebody else will take over from them, so they will put in their best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Africa Press-Nigeria: Former Nigeria and Enyimba striker Victor Ezeji has urged FA Cup winners Arsenal to prioritise signing a defender before Atletico Madrid Thomas Partey, and sees Leicester City’s Caglar Soyuncu as the ideal man to improve the Gunners’ backline. The Ghana international is regarded as one of the best in his position in Europe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":28180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[174,115],"class_list":["post-28177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-football-in-nigeria","tag-nigerian-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n