Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Arsenal are closely monitoring the progress of Dinos Mavropanos and William Saliba this season.
football.london understands that Arsenal are closely monitoring the progress of Mavropanos whose solid performances at Bundesliga side Stuttgart continue to catch the eye of rival clubs and managers.
Mavropanos has played 849 minutes in the Bundesliga this season, managing a 79.5 per cent pass accuracy, whilst he has also won 73 per cent of his aerial duels. He also has one assist.
Meanwhile, Saliba was named Nice’s Player of the Month for January and has also received widespread praise from his performances in Ligue One.
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“We are having meetings very often to assess what they are doing,” said Arteta when asked if he’s keeping tabs on the progress of Mavropanos and Saliba.
“Obviously we are getting all the information and watching their games because I want to keep a very close eye on what they are doing.
“We were talking yesterday with our loan’s manager Ben Knapper who is in charge of monitoring everything that we are doing.
“We are in contact with the players and let’s see. It’s good news that they’re playing and good news that they have the possibility to have a lot of minutes, because that’s going to give us a much better perception of where they are and how we can use them.”
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Arsenal currently have Rob Holding, Gabriel, Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers as centre back options, with David Luiz’s contract expiring in the summer.
Mavropanos’ contract expires in 2023 and both the Greek defender and Saliba are expected to return for pre-season training with Arsenal where Arteta will take a closer look at them.