Arsenal eye summer move for young Galatasaray star

Arsenal are considering a summer move for Galatasaray right-back Sacha Boey as they look to strengthen their defence ahead of next season.

Arsenal’s lack of depth in defensive positions proved costly in the final weeks of this campaign and they are hoping to address the problem once the transfer window opens.

Boey has been a regular for Galatasaray this season and is understood to be open to the idea of moving to England.

Sources in Turkey have said that Galatasaray will demand around £20 million for the 22-year-old Frenchman and Arsenal are expected to face competition from rival Premier League clubs.

Arsenal have spent this season with Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu as their main right-back options, but lost Tomiyasu to a serious knee injury in March.

Mikel Arteta said on Friday that he hopes that Tomiyasu will be fit for pre-season but it is feared that the Japan international could be out for much longer.

Arsenal also explored right-back options in January, when they looked closely at Ivan Fresneda, the Valladolid teenager, ahead of a possible summer move. It remains to be seen whether they decide to step up that interest in Fresneda.

As reported by Telegraph Sport earlier this month, Arsenal are also interested in Manchester City’s out-of-favour full-back Joao Cancelo, although there are fears that City will not want to sell to their closest title challengers.

Arsenal’s top priority for the summer remains the central midfield position, with West Ham United’s Declan Rice known to be their main target.

Brighton’s Moises Caicedo was the subject of two bids from Arsenal in January and remains a player of interest, while the north London club are also pursuing a move for City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who will be available on a free transfer this summer if he does not agree a new deal in Manchester.

Arteta said this week that the club must “nail” their recruitment in the transfer window if they are to compete again for the title next season.

“I think the competition is going to be even harder than this season,” he said. “In my opinion, it’s been the hardest of the 22 years that I’ve been in this league. In order to do that, we have a really promising plan.”