Nigel Winterburn believes Arsenal’s pursuit of Piero Hincapie is a ‘statement of intent’ but is unsure as as to whether it’s one of the best use of the club’s funds.
Hincapie has been an ever-present figure for Leverkusen lately, but has expressed his desire to depart the club before the transfer deadline.
The Ecuador international can play at centre-back or left-back and has attracted interest from the Gunners given the £52million release clause in his current deal.
Mikel Arteta is already blessed with arguably one of the best centre-back partnership within the league, with Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba a big a part of why Arsenal have kept clean sheets of their first two games of the season.
Arsenal appear keen to not rest on their laurels, and the potential addition of Hincapie – to enhance the signing of Cristhian Mosquera from earlier this summer – would give them supreme depth in the center of their defence.
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But while in little doubt about Hincapie’s ability, Winterburn wonders whether the deal, which might take Arsenal’s summer spending beyond £300m, would make sense upon closer inspection.
‘If the talent is there and also you’ve got the cash, then absolutely do you go and strengthen again,’ Winterburn told Metro via NewBettingSites.uk when asked concerning the potential signing of Hincapie.
‘As we’ve already seen with Arsenal you never quite know with injuries where it’s essential go.
‘It’s one to observe, however it looks as if it would just be a protracted shot that got here up.
‘If it were to occur, I’m sure it could mean Kiwior going. But Mosquera has are available and he’s got to play in that position and develop as well.
‘Possibly they’re pondering they need another but 60 million [euros] to take a seat in your bench? It seems quite lots of money to me and it could probably go just a little bit against what Arsenal have done prior to now.
‘Let’s watch and see, but when it were to occur, it could be an enormous statement of intent.’
After a hard-fought win on opening day against Manchester United, Arsenal looked back to their frightening best last weekend as they thrashed Leeds United 5-0 on the Emirates.
But despite the positive signs, Winterburn insisted it continues to be too early within the season to properly judge Arteta’s side.
‘Once you spend lots of money, and now with social media, everybody goes to make a judgment immediately,’ he added.
‘But we’ve brought recent players in and also you’ve got to integrate them. I say it on a regular basis, but the primary few games are nearly getting the victories and the positions set, and then you definately can integrate players into your squad properly once the window is shut.
‘Then you definately’ve got that settling-down period when you may really begin to see a structure evolve.’
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