Arsenal have entered a transfer battle with Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool to secure the services of Koln left-back Jonas Hector to further strengthen their defence before the start of the Premier League season, according to Liam Spence of the Daily Express. Koln are believed to be willing to accept any offer in the region of £17m for the left-back, who is contracted to the RheinEnergieStadion side until 2018.

Although the murmurs have cooled down lately, either Nacho Monreal or Kieran Gibbs is expected to depart the Emirates Stadium club, with the former eyeing a return to Spain and the latter looking to revamp his stalled career.

The Gunners were heavily linked with a move for Wolfsburg left-back Ricardo Rodriguez, but Barcelona have now claimed the driving seat in the race for his signature, seemingly. Whether Hector is merely a backup plan for Rodriguez is not known yet, but the club are monitoring both at the time of writing.

Arsene Wenger admitted in May that Arsenal would bring down three players in the summer transfer window. Although Takuma Asano does count as a signing, the manager was stressing upon first-team players, and Asano is all set to be loaned back to Sanfrecce Hiroshima, by the looks of things. With Alvaro Morata, Alexandre Lacazette, or Romelu Lukaku expected to become the second first-team signing, Wenger can still proceed to bring down another in Hector.

Wenger should fend off interests from Tottenham and Liverpool to sign him, with the Reds reportedly keen to replace the under-performing Alberto Moreno with him. However, interests from fellow Premier League outfits will not be a hindrance if Arsenal’s interest is concrete, as Arsenal have established a strong relationship with former Gunner Lukas Podolski’s hometown club Koln.

Twenty-six-year-old Hector is a full-fledged German international, who boasts 19 Germany caps. He will likely figure for Joachim Low’s side against hosts France in the second European Championship finals on Thursday night.