Arsenal Take Interest In Young Midfielder Gianelli Imbula

Saturday, 29th September, 2012

Arsenal are taking a keen interest in the development of midfielder Gianelli Imbula, according to French sports daily L’Equipe.

At present Imbula turns out in France’s Ligue 2 for Guingamp, but the 20-year-old has already begun to attract a number of scouts to the Stade du Roudourou.

relatedNewsStory Keeping a close watch on the midfielder are French Ligue 1 pair Lyon and Rennes, with the latter still believing they will lose the highly rated Yann M’Vila at some point.

Imbula made his debut for Guingamp in 2009, at the time becoming the youngest ever player to turn out in France’s top flight, aged 17 years, one month and four days.

The Congo-born youngster has since firmly established himself in the French side’s first team and clocked up 27 appearances in Ligue 2 last season, helping Guingamp to finish 7th.

So far this season he has made seven appearances in Ligue 2, though Guingamp have had a mixed start to the campaign, winning three, drawing three and losing three of their nine league matches.

Imbula is under contract at Guingamp until 2015, though it is likely he would find the chance to move to a bigger club hard to resist.

It remains to be seen who will move for the 20-year-old first, but Gunners boss Arsene Wenger keeps his finger on the pulse of French football and, should Imbula continue his development in northern France, the arrival of a bid from Arsenal would not come out of the blue.

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