Arsenal are interested in signing a Spanish teenager who has been likened to former Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen. The Belgian centre-back was a regular starter for the Gunners' north London rivals during the Mauricio Pochettino era where the Lilywhites made it to the Champions League final.

Mikel Arteta has made a number of defensive signings in his near four years at Emirates Stadium with William Saliba, Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko among those joining. Injury issues throughout the team during this campaign has forced Arteta to reconsider his plans for the upcoming transfer windows with issues at full-back prominent.

After Jurrien Timber picked up an injury on the opening day of the Premier League season Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu have been among those to be dealt injury blows. Ben White joined that list when he missed his first league minutes of the season due to an unknown issue that saw him omitted from the matchday squad to face Burnley.

William Saliba has thus far avoided injury this season, although his absence greatly cost the Gunners in last season's title race. The France international suffered a back injury which saw him miss the final few months although he has been able to return in fine form.

In the summer of 2019, when Saliba was 18, Arsenal acquired the teenager from Saint-Ettiene before loaning him to Marseille. For the 2022/23 season, Saliba made an immediate impact as Arteta's side stormed to the top of the table and now Arteta could be attempting to repeat that smart signing with another teenage defender being targeted.

According to Spanish outlet AS, Arsenal are interested in Valencia star Yarek Gasiorowski, a player they tried to sign a number of years ago with the bureaucratic impediments of Brexit stopping the move. Since then Gasiorowski has continued to shine with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus or Borussia Dortmund all having scouted him.

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Gasiorowski has made three senior La Liga appearances this season with a 35-minute cameo at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium coming after a 90-minute Copa Del Rey display at left-back in the win over UD Logrones, as per transfermarkt.

When discussing Gasiorowski, Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout likened him to Vertonghen with it also being claimed he has world class potential. According to reports in Spain, he has a €20million (£17.5million) release clause in his contract and Arsenal could be tempted to bolster their defensive ranks for the future given his meteoric rise.