Jan Vertonghen left Tottenham on a free transfer after his contract expired this summer, but we’re yet to locate a replacement. He could be followed through the exit door by Cameron Carter-Vickers and Juan Foyth, so it’s clear we need to strengthen at the back.
We’ve been linked with West Ham’s Issa Diop, Brighton & Hove Albion’s Ben White, Beijing Guoan’s Kim Min-jae, Brighton’s Lewis Dunk, Sevilla’s Diego Carlos, Inter Milan’s Milan Skriniar, Schalke 04’s Ozan Kabak, Norwich City’s Ben Godfrey, Celtic’s Kristoffer Ajer and SC Freiburg’s Robin Koch but Canal del Fútbol say Guillermo Maripán is on our radar.
AS Monaco are resigned to losing the 26-year-old as they’re struggling financially and need to balance the books. Little is known bout Maripán, however, so who is he?
Dominant in the air, good reader of the game
Maripan is a 26-year-old defender who has made 24 appearances in all competitions for AS Monaco since joining from Alaves for £16.2m last summer, scoring two goals. He’s represented the Chilean national team on 24 occasions and netted twice for his troubles.
The experienced centre-back made 20 Ligue 1 appearances for Monaco last season, winning 40/71 aerial duels, completed 88% of his 1075 passes, took 12 shots with 33% hitting the target, blocked 33 passes/crosses/shots, made 66 clearances, only gave away one foul every 125 minutes, averaged a tackle (42) or interception (25) every 26 minutes.
Maripan has only been dribbled past once every 110 minutes too, so he’s not caught out often.
How much would he cost?
Transferzone estimate Maripan’s market value is €7.5m, Transfermarkt say he’s worth £9.9m and CIES Football Observatory believe he could fetch €15m-€20m. With Monaco paying more than £16m for the 26-year-old last year, Canal del Fútbol say the Ligue 1 outfit want £18m back.
We’re considering cashing on Danny Rose (£14.4m-rated), Serge Aurier (£14.4m-rated), Foyth (£12.15m-rated) and Carter-Vickers (£1.8m-rated) to generate transfer funds this summer, so Maripan should be more than attainable.
There’s some competition from Newcastle for Maripan’s signature, but it’s hard to see the Magpies beating us to the centre-back if we’re going head-to-head this summer.