Despite having already signed defender Sebastien Bassong from FC
Metz, and also closing in on signing Deportivo’s Coloccini, manager
Kevin Keegan is still keen to bolster his defence ahead of the new
season.
The club have already had one bid for Senderos rejected by
Arsenal, thought to be in the region of £4 million, and according
to the Mail on Sunday have now been told to up their
offer.
The paper reports that Arsenal are willing to accept
either a straight offer of £10 million for their Swiss centre half,
or a £7 million deal which would also include goalkeeper Shay Given
moving to the Emirates.
Whilst Senderos is far from a regular in the Arsenal side,
William Gallas and Kolo Toure being the Gunners' preferred duo in
the heart of the Arsenal defence, he is a useful squad player and
made 17 apperances in the Premier League last season.
However, the Swiss came in for some critisism at the end of last
season after having largely been blamed for the club’s exit from
the Champions League at the hands of Liverpool, which has led to
speculation linking him with a move away from the club.
Given, meanwhile, has long been linked with a move to Arsenal
with manager Arsene Wenger reportedly a big fan of the
Irishman.
The Newcastle goalkeeper is one of the club’s longest serving
players having joined the club from Blackburn back in
1997.
However, injuries interrupted his campaign last season and saw
him make only 19 league starts, and his position in the side
was more than adequately filled by long term deputy Steve
Harper.