Arsenal are considering a bid for Athletic Bilbao centre-back Aymeric Laporte in the up coming winter window after having failed to replace outgoing Thomas Vermaelen before the start of the campaign, according to the Daily Star.

The Gunners are struggling to find answers to their defensive frailties, and Arsene Wenger does not seem to have the solution for the problems in the unit. Mathieu Debuchy came into club as a world class right back, and settled well in the side, only to be a victim of injury which disrupted the balance in defence. Calum Chambers has been covering for the former Newcastle United defender, and has stayed with the partnership of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker in the centre of defence.

Laporte had spells in different sides in his youth career including his current club Bilbao, but the club failed to sign him on a permanent contract, and he moved to Basconia in 2011. The performances in his first season were good enough to suggest Laporte could represent a big European club. Bilbao then decided to sign him back, and the player has made 59 appearances for the Spanish outfit, scoring 2 goals in the process. The 20-year old has also been a part of the French national youth squads, giving him an international base, with the under-21 side his latest outing last year.

So you can expect the new coach to have a good knowledge of the upcoming talents in the French teams and therefore that he may well bid for them.