Nigel Winterburn believes Arsenal’s pursuit of Piero Hincapie is a ‘statement of intent’ but is unsure as to whether it’s the best use of the club’s funds.
Hincapie has been an ever-present figure for Leverkusen in recent years, but has expressed his desire to leave 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 the best centre-back partnership in the league, with Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba a large part of why Arsenal have kept clean sheets in their first two games of the season.
Arsenal appear keen not to rest on their laurels, and the potential addition of Hincapie – to complement the signing of Cristhian Mosquera from earlier this summer – would give them supreme depth in the heart of their defence.
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But while in no doubt about Hincapie’s ability, Winterburn wonders whether the deal, which would take Arsenal’s summer spending beyond £300m, would make sense upon closer inspection.
‘If the talent is there and you’ve got the money, then absolutely do you go and strengthen again,’ Winterburn told Metro via NewBettingSites.uk when asked about the potential signing of Hincapie.
‘As we’ve already seen with Arsenal you never quite know with injuries where you need to go.
‘It’s one to watch, but it seems like it might just be a long shot that came up.
‘If it were to happen, I’m sure it would mean Kiwior going. But Mosquera has come in and he’s got to play in that position and develop as well.
‘Maybe they are thinking they need one more but 60 million [euros] to sit on your bench? It seems quite a lot of money to me and it would probably go a little bit against what Arsenal have done in the past.
‘Let’s watch and see, but if it were to happen, it would be a big 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 at the Emirates.
But despite the positive signs, Winterburn insisted it is still too early in the season to properly judge Arteta’s side.
‘When you spend a lot of money, and now with social media, everybody is going to make a judgment straight away,’ he added.
‘But we’ve brought new players in and you’ve got to integrate them. I say it all the time, but the first few games are just about getting the victories and the positions set, and then you can integrate players into your squad properly once the window is shut.
‘Then you’ve got that settling-down period when you can really start to see a structure evolve.’
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