Arsenal see off Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday interest to sign Cohen Bramall
According to Sky Sports, Arsenal have beaten fellow Premier League side Crystal Palace and Championship outfit Sheffield Wednesday to secure the services of highly-rated Hednesford left-back Cohen Bramall.
The report suggests that the Gunners are likely to complete the signing within the next 48 hours as the player has already passed a medical examination at the club. He has put pen to paper on a two-and-a-half-year contract and is subject to an official announcement from the London club.
Bramall will be Arsene Wenger’s first signing of the January transfer window and will be a decent addition in the left-back department. Nacho Monreal and Kieran Gibbs’ first-team berths have gone unchallenged this season, and with the arrival of the Englishman, Wenger will expect his top two left-backs to up their game if they are to be a part of the first team.
The 20-year-old will not immediately fight for a spot in Wenger’s team, but will instead join the under-21s until the end of the season. Arsenal are expected to pay £40,000 to Hednesford to secure the services of their key defender after the player impressed during his trial spell at the club.
The youngster was the cream of the crop for the Crewe and Nantwich AC sides during his youth academy days before he moved to Kidsgrove Atheltic in 2013. Shortly after that, he was loaned out to Alsager Town to gain first-team experience.
Since then, he has switched clubs a number of times, before settling at Hednesford with new manager Liam McDonald – a keen spotter of talent from lower leagues. McDonald moved quickly in the transfer market at the start of the campaign the sign the highly-rated defensive prodigy.
Rangers eye Arsenal youngster Jon Toral
As per Keith Jackson of the Daily Record, Rangers boss Mark Warburton has identified Arsenal midfielder Jon Toral as his primary transfer target of the January window. The 21-year-old is currently unhappy with his loan spell at Granada and fancies a move to the Scottish Premier League.
Warburton is understood to be extremely keen on signing Toral as he has specially made a trip to Spain to open discussions with the player. Known to be a hands-on negotiator, the Ibrox boss had flown out lat month as well to convince Jola Peleteiro to terminate his loan at Eibar to move to Scotland.
After being denied access to meet Peleteiro, Warburton has turned his attention to Toral. He has also taken help of Mikel Arteta to explain the benefits of a move to Rangers to the Arsenal midfielder.
Much like Arteta who joined Rangers in 2002, Toral too, is a Barcelona academy graduate. The pair became friends when Hector Bellerin and Toral left La Masia for North London. However, with the opportunity of regular playing minutes, a move to Scotland may be too good to turn down for the Arsenal midfielder.
