Tielemans not the central man Arsenal need

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Arsenal need midfield reinforcements, and we should be making a move in January.

We need to improve on Mohamed Elneny as Thomas Partey’s cover.

The Egyptian is a solid player, and the one-year extension was the right move.

That decision has allowed Edu and his team to clear their heads as to what exactly we need.

Last summer we might have considered the incoming man being a Partey replacement, co side ring his injury record. But with the Ghanaian’s form (and fitness) this year, replacing him is not on the agenda.

That means we should now be looking for someone who can cover him in the short term, and replace him in the long.

Partey is the best in the world plying as that single pivot defensive midfielder, so it does not make sense for us to get in another big name in this area (no Declan Rice).

Likewise, get the likes of Youri Tielemans and Sergej Milinković-Savić out of your mouths. Neither are defensive midfielders or can play that Partey role.

Tielemans has played deeper this season, but he is not a defensive midfielder.

For Leicester, he plays as the slightly more advanced of a two-man midfield; with either Boubakary Soumaré or Wilfred Ndidi as the deeper defensive cover.

Tielemans on his own as that single defensive midfielder would be a disaster. He neither has the awareness or stamina to do that job.

As for Milinkovic-Savic, he always comes across as a player that everyone raves about but have never seen.

People look at his size, stature and nationality and immediately think “midfield enforcer”. Paul Pogba is similar – the Frenchman often mislabelled as a defensive midfielder due to being big and black, when he has almost always played further forward. The Serbian has never played defensive midfield for Lazio.

If we were talking about replacing Granit Xhaka, then Tielemans and Milinkovic-Savic would be names to mention. But we are talking about getting in cover for Partey. Neither are suitable.

What we need to be looking for is a young, talented defensive midfielder who we can develop over the next 2-3 season to eventually replace Partey full-time. Basically succession management.

We should be looking at players aged 20-22. Players that would see joining Arsenal to be understudy to Partey as a step up from playing regular football at their current clubs.

They would understand that they would see plenty of game time as they continue their development, and as long as they work hard and keep improving, they will be in pole position to replace the Ghanaian in 2-years time.

The two obvious candidates are Palmeiras’ Danilo and Moises Caciedo of Brighton.

Danilo would be the cheapest of the pair – fee rumoured to be around £20-25m. Caciedo, with his Premier League experience, would cost double that.

The Brazilian would be available in January, the current Brasileiro Série A season finished in November. Brighton, meanwhile, would unlikely want to see Caciedo leave until the summer.

With the above considered, Danilo is a realistic January transfer target.

Whether he (or Caciedo) develop into Partey’s replacement is still to be seen.

They will have 2-3 years to prove they can do that job. And if they fail to progress, expect Arsenal to sign an off-the-shelf replacement for him in around 2025 or 2026.

For now, we can take the risk on a young, exciting talent.

We don’t need to replace Partey yet. Just sign some better cover and competition.

Keenos

10 to 1 as England exit – who were Arsenal’s winners and losers?

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The bad news is England are out of the World Cup.

The good news is the defeat means Bukayo Saka and Aaron Ramsdale join Matt Turner, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli back in London.

Of the 10 that went out to Qatar, just one remains – William Saliba. And whilst I am furstrated at England’s exit, I am quietly happy that we have nearly a full squad back together 2 weeks before the West Ham game.

I would expect Saka to be given a week off to unwind following England’s exit. To not worry about joining up with the squad in Qatar. I would be surprised to see him next Saturday against Juventus. He will likely join the team for the warm down session on the Sunday as his first training session back.

Ramsdale did no play in Qatar, so I would not be surprised if he flew straight to Dubai and plays some part of the AC Milan game on Tuesday.

Saying that, he will more likely be given a couple of days off, and join back up with the squad when they return to London Colney on Thursday. Expect him to start against Juventus.

Gabriel Martinelli is in a similar boat to Ramsdale. Played very little.

According to Brazilian media, he made an early exit from Brazil’s hotel, taking a Friday night flight back to London. The Brazil FA had scheduled flights for their players Saturday morning.

This meant Martinelli would be back in his own bed Friday evening and I would imagine tomorrow he will fly out to Dubai, joining up with the squad for the Milan game.

So with almost everyone now home, how did Arsenal’s 10 at the World Cup get on?

Matt Turner – 360 / 360 minutes played

Arsenal’s “big winner” so far at this World Cup. Put in some fantastic performances for the USA, showing he is good enough to be 2nd choice at Arsenal.

Aaron Ramsdale – 0 / 450 minutes

Spent the entire torunament warming the bench. With Jordan Pickford just 28, it is something he will have to get used to. Should also drive him to keep improving.

Takehiro Tomiyasu – 187 / 450 minutes

Went to the World Cup carrying a knock, and started just one game. Showed his quality against Germany, but he also picked up another knock in that game. Injuries becoming a concern.

Ben White – 0 / 450 minutes

Left early for personal reasons. We made the decision not to join the speculation. Hopefully the short break in the Maldives will get him back in the right head space and a return to familar surroundings at Arsenal will make his World Cup experience a distant memory.

William Saliba – 27 / 450 minutes

Yet to a game as France enter the semi-final stages. When France played their “2nd string” in the final group game, he was on the bench, getting just 27 minutes in their 1-0 defeat to Tunisia.

Opposing fans have taken this as “evidence” that he is not very good. Liverpool fans going OTT saying their 3rd choice defender (Ibrahima Konaté) starts ahead of Saliba, highlighting it shows the “levels” between the clubs. We are top, they are 6th, 15 points behind.

Very clear that Didier Deschamps selected him for the experience of a big international tournament.

Thomas Partey – 270 / 270 minutes

Knocked out in the group stages, Thomas Partey had a quiet tournament. Must be hard for him going from playing with great players at Arsenal to what Ghana are currently offering. With his injury record, I would not be surprised if he retires from international duty.

Granit Xhaka – 360 / 360 minutes

Tough tournament for Xhaka and Switzerland.

Got through a tough group, only to be threashed by Portugual in the Round of 16. Flew straight from Qatar to Dubai which shows his mentality.

Bukayo Saka – 293 / 360 minutes

MOTM in the first game, dropped for the 3rd. England’s best player as they lost to France. Tournament confirmed what us Arsenal fans already knew. Time to stop talking about Saka’s potential. He is not a “Star Boy” . He is a Superstar right now.

Gabriel Martinelli – 111 / 450 minutes

Martinelli can be proud that he made it into Brazil’s squad. And when he got on the pitch he showed he belongs. With Brazil’s abundance of attacking talent, he will have to keep performing and improving to remain in the squad. Training with the likes of Neymar and Vinicus Junior will only improve him. Wonder if he has learned a few new tricks?

Gabriel Jesus – 92 / 450 minutes

Arsenal big loser at this World Cup. Found himself on the bench for Brazil’s first two group games. Finally made a start in the “dead rubber” against Cameron, and got injured. Likely to be out until February. A very frustrating tourament.

Keenos

Can a case be made for Wilfried Zaha to Arsenal?

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Arsenal transfer policy in the last few windows has been clear and obvious.

Sign younger players who are hungry to learn.

There are plenty of wide-men out there that fit that criteria – Mykhailo Mudryk, Rafael Leao, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Cody Gakpo. But should Arsenal depart from their current policy and sign Wilfried Zaha in January.

Let’s see if we can make a case for his recruitment.

Instant impact

We are in the title race.

A smart signing in January could be the difference between finishing first and second.

The issue with going for a younger player, playing abroad, is you might end up writing the first 6 months of their career as they settle. This would basically be the second half of this season.

In Zaha, we would be getting someone who is Premier League ready. Who would not need to adapt to a new country. A man who already has 6 goals in 13 games this season. A player that has averaged 10 Premier League goals a season for the last 5 years.

He would make an impact from day one.

The style of winger is so important to us.

Nicolas Pepe was never a bad player. He just did not suit our system.

He relied on their being space in behind his opponent, and Rennes built a team around getting the best out of this – defending deep and looking to counter attack. At Arsenal, he struggled.

We play a more possession based game, with our defenders starting position being further up the field. We look to dominate play and often face teams who play the “low block” and put 8 outfield players behind the ball.

This restricted Pepe’s space, and as a result his influence.

Whilst Crystal Palace have often played counter attacking football, Zaha has shown time and again that he can operate in little space.

He is very good when being stood up by an opponent. He has that trick, the pace and power to beat the full back. To find the space and create or score from nothing.

Coming off the bench when leading, he would be an excellent option as we look to defend deeper and hit the opponents on the counter.

Cool and calm in front of goal, he would be the man to turn 1-nil into 2.

Zaha has that something special to unlock a defence, regardless of how they are set up.

Age is not a concern

“But he is 30” is a genuine concern.

I can understand why fans would not want him due to his age. But as a free transfer, we would not be investing a huge transfer fee into him with no chance of selling on.

If we could get him in January on a 3 and a half year deal, we would expect to get at least 18 months of top level football out of him before he begins to decline.

That 18 months could see us won the league this season as well as free up more money to invest elsewhere in the summer.

It could even allow us to go big for Mudryk in the summer of 2023 and allow him a season to adapt with little pressure.

I would be surprised if Zaha would command much more than £150k a week.

A 3.5 year contract would cost us around £27.3million. Even if we throw in a £10m signing on fee, the total investment on wages and fees would be less than £40m. That is not a huge figure and less than just the transfer fee of being touted about for the likes of Mudryk and Leao.

We have discussed before how we need to sign someone who can cover both flanks and up top. Zaha can do just that.

The ultimate cover

During his career, he has mainly played right wing – 43% of his game time has come on the right flank.

37% of his career has been spent playing left wing, whilst 20% has come through the middle.

I would be surprised if any other of our targets have similar game time playing across the front 3 positions.

He is Premier League-ready cover for Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus. The ultimate cover man.

But would he want to join?

Now 30-years-old, he will never have another chance to play for a top team.

This January will be 10 years since he joined Manchester United.

That move never worked out for him for one reason or another and he has since spent 9 years back at Crystal Palace.

During that 9 years, he has looked to move on to a higher level a couple of times, often finding his exit blocked by Place demanding huge transfer fees. Now the ball is in his court with his contract expiring in the summer.

At 30, he can not expect to be a week in, week out regular at a top.

Arsenal have Saka and Martinelli, Liverpool have Salah and Diaz, Tottenham Son and Kuluveski. Manchester United have Rashford, Sancho, Martial and Garancho, whilst Chelsea have Sterling, Pulisic and Ziyech.

Manchester City have Foden, Grealish, Mahrez, Silva and Alvarez.

At all of the “traditional top 6” clubs, he would be part of a group of players competing to player, rather than the guaranteed starter he is at Palace.

Any player joining one of these top teams will know they are not guaranteed a starting spot. They are going to compete and challenge to play.

Zaha would know he would get plenty of game time joining Arsenal.

He would only really be competing with Jesus, Martinelli and Saka to start. It will be 4 into 3 – with Nketiah and Smith Rowe offering further cover.

Due to the current make up of our squad, he would probably get the most game time were he to join Arsenal.

The fly in the ointment could be Newcastle – Zaha would walk into their team and the North-East side would likely be able to offer him Champions League football.

But it could take Newcastle another 2 or 3 years to become properly competitive. Would Zaha want to join that, knowing he what’s such little time left in his career? By the time the Geordie’s are challenging for the league, they would probably be looking to upgrade on Zaha.

We suit Zaha, and Zaha suits us. Would it be worthwhile departing from our current transfer policy to sign him?

Keenos