Unai Emery has a lot of work to do if he is to get Arsenal back inside the top four.

The Gunners have been on the decline, with bitter rivals Tottenham finishing ahead of them in the past few seasons.

Arsenal have now missed out on a Champions League berth for the last two campaigns.

The Spanish manager has already made a number of moves to try and avoid disappointment for the third straight year.

He has already acquired the services of Stephan Lichtsteiner, while a move for Sokratis Papastathopoulos is also close to completion.

However, it's obvious they still need more signings.

One particular position where Arsenal need to strengthen is defensive midfield.

The north London side have struggled in that area for a number of years, with Granit Xhaka failing to impress since making the move from Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2016.

But it seems his position in the Arsenal side could now be in threat, as it is revealed by The Daily Mail that Emery 'wants a defensive midfielder brought in as part of his summer recruitment plan.'

And the English publication claim that Emery has entered talks with Sampdoria defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira over a £22 million move.

The report adds Torreira has a buy out clause, but Arsenal may need to pay in instalments due to their limited budget this window.

The Uruguay international is highly rated at his club, having made 74 appearances for the Italians in two seasons.

Xhaka may find his playing time limited next season if Arsenal are to get the deal over the line.

The repot adds that Arsenal are also interested in Sporting Lisbon winger Gelson Martins and have discussed a potential bid for Caglar Soyuncu at Freiburg. 

DAVID SEAMAN: WHAT ARSENAL NEED THIS SUMMER

David Seaman has claimed that Arsenal need to continue to bolster this defence, as well as add a dominant midfield player.

"You’ve got to progress on the season before and we were out of the top four and we were getting left behind by quite a few of the big clubs," Seaman told Omnisport, per Goal.

"We need to regroup, have a little restructure of the team and then push on, get into the Champions League again and try and improve on that each season.

"It’s not going to be easy because the big guns are quite a way ahead at the moment. We need steel in the team.

"We need a couple of defenders, dominant defenders, and a dominant midfield player.

"I think the forward side of it, you can leave that alone because we’ve got a lot of firepower there. I’m just a little bit worried about the defence and the art of defending."

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