Arsenal and Tottenham are ready to go head to head for young defender Piero Hincapie as the pair look to strengthen their defences in the coming months, according to reports in Germany.
The Bayer Leverkusen defender, who turns 21 years old in a fortnight, is a left-footed central defender who can also play at left-back when needed. He appeared three times with Ecuador at the World Cup, and has already played over 50 games for Leverkusen since arriving in Germany in the summer transfer window of 2021.
And the left side of defence is a position high in demand in north London. Tottenham are expected to be in the market to add another left-footed defender in the coming months, with Clement Lenglet’s loan unlikely to be made permanent, while Ben Davies has been Conte’s go-to defender on the left of a back three since his arrival.
Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta remains in the market for a backup to Gabriel, with Rob Holding expected to leave this summer. The Gunners were interested in Nico Schlotterbeck last summer, but ultimately lost out to Borussia Dortmund, and are now thought to be weighing up a free transfer for Eintracht Frankfurt defender Evan Ndicka, who is out of contract this summer in Germany.
As per German outlet Bild, however, this is not yet done, with Arsenal still holding a strong interest in Hincapie, along with Tottenham and Chelsea (though the signing of Monaco’s Benoit Badiashile should put the Blues out of the race for the Ecuadorian).
Though no price is mentioned in the report, previous suggestions have claimed that it would cost around £34m to prise Hincapie away from Leverkusen in the coming transfer windows, meaning that he would be a relatively low cost option for both sides. Having already recently gone head to head for Emerson Royal, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Jesus, it could be another battle across north London for Hincapie’s services.
