Tag Archives: Arsenal

Mexico hero Arsenal’s missing piece?

1 Reply

With Arsenal set to complete the majority of their transfer business before the month end, it will give the club over a month to find that something special. The missing piece of the jigsaw.

With Sokratis coming in at the back, and a deal for Lucas Torreira nearing completion that will reinforce the midfield, the trio of Raul Sanllehi, Sven Mislintat and Unai Emery have acted quickly to address two of Arsenal’s long standing problems.

A third signing, expected to be Bernd Leno, will hopefully solve the problem of Petr Cech in goal. The German stopper will replace David Ospina and compete with the veteran Czech to be Arsenal’s number one.

That will leave Arsenal just one player short of a competitive squad next season. An attacking wide man.

With Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain leaving the club in the last 12 months, Arsenal lack someone who will hug the touchline.

Whilst Mesut Ozil, Henrik Mkhitaryan, Alex Iwobi, Danny Welbeck, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can do a job out wide, their natural inclination is to drop inside. They won’t be getting too much chalk on their boots.

Whilst I expect Arsenal to play 4321 next season, with Ozil and Mkhitaryan playing behind Aubameyang, we need to get a wide man allowing us to change the tactics of required.

Ideally you want that wide man to be quick and direct, but also have the technical ability to come inside and play as a number 10 if needed.

If we are building a criteria, we also need to target someone under 24.

With Ozil and Mkhitaryan both 29, whoever comes in needs to be a long term option, a potential replacement for Ozil or Mkhitaryan in the future.

Someone to fill the talent gap between Iwobi (who will become 4th choice attacker) and the senior pair.

One person who ticks every single box is Mexico’s Hirving Lozano – goal scorer against Germany.

The PSV Eindhoven winger was heavily linked with Arsenal in 2017, with reports that The Gunners were considering activating his £30m release clause in January.

Originally seen as a replacement for Alexis Sanchez, the deal died when the Chilean joined Manchester United, with Mkhitaryan coming the other way.

“Chucky” turns 23 in July, and usually plays on the left hand side. Being right footed, he usually cuts inside Robert Pires-esque.

Playing as an inverted winger, he is quick and direct, more than happy staying out wide. But he also has the technique when he drops inside.

Last season he scored 19 goals and contributed 11 assists in 34 games as he helped his Dutch side win the title.

Arsenal will easily be able to afford his release clause, and Lozano would be the final piece in the jigsaw for next season.

Keenos

Arsenal set to complete £65m triple transfer “within 2 weeks”

5 Replies

A huge criticism of the last 10 years of the Arsene Wenger era was the dithering over transfers – with the club often waiting until the last week of the transfer window to complete deals.

The new era lead by Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat has heralded a new policy on transfers.

Not only were we happy to deal with a super agent when we signed Henrik Mkhitaryan, and got through a complex deal which saw Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang join the club in January, we are not concluding our transfer dealings earlier.

We have already seen Stephan Lichtsteiner join the club on a free transfer, and it is becoming increasingly likely that he will be joined by 3 more new signings.

We already know that the deal of Sokratis Papastathopoulos will go through at the beginning July. The Greek centre back joining Arsenal for £16m.

The Gunners are closing in on the £26m signing of Sampdoria midfielder Lucas Torreira.

Arsenal are discussing personal terms with representatives of Uruguay midfielder Torreira and a deal for the 22-year-old who came off the bench on Friday to help Uruguay beat Egypt 1-0.

A £26m fee has been agreed between the two clubs. Over his release clause but allows Arsenal to spread payments out.

Unai Emery is also keen to sign a goalkeeper and Arsenal have made contact with Leverkusen over a move for Bernd Leno. The 26-year-old will replace Petr Cech as the Gunners No1.

Reports are they have approached Bayer Leverkusen over a £23m deal for German goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who recently liked an Instagram post concerning the transfer speculation.

As Leno was left out of Germany’s World Cup squad, there are unlikely to be too many delays in completing the deal.

With all 3 set to be completed in the next two weeks, it will leave the club plenty of time and money to complete a “special” signing before the window shuts on the eve of the transfer window.

Keenos

Lucas Torreira, Mo Elneny & Grant Xhaka

2 Replies

Lucas Torreira

Saw a few fans during yesterday’s game between Egypt and Uruguay question how good Lucas Torreira must be if he “can’t even get into his national team”.

As the majority of us at England fans, is this view not a little arrogant? And extremely ignorant.

Uruguay are ranked 14th in the world. That is just one place below England – a side which Jack Wilshere can’t even get into the squad for.

They are ranked above the likes of Holland, Italy, Columbia and Croatia.

Ahead of him in the Starting XI is Rodrigo Bentancur. The 20 year old had a break through season for Juventus last season, who secured first option to sign him when he was just 17.

Also ahead of him is 26 year old Matías Vecino, who Inter Milan paid €24m for last summer.

Let’s not pretend this Uruguay is a poor team. They have an array of talented young midfielders, including Nahitan Nández (22) and Giorgian De Arrascaeta (24).

It is no shame that Torreira did not start.

Uruguay are not exactly Scotland or Republic of Ireland. They are a good outfit.

Mohamed Elneny

One player who did start the game was Egypt’s Mo Elneny.

He put in the solid if unexceptional performance that he has become known for.

If Arsenal do go ahead next year and play 3 in the middle of the park, Elneny has to be in with a shout if being the deepest of those 3.

He covers a lot of ground, is disciplined and defensive aware.

You do not win the league with 11 Lionel Messi’s. You need a Sergio Busquet’s or Fernandinho.

Elneny can do that job (although it would be good to also secure Torreira so that we have competition in the area.

Granit Xhaka

Not everyone’s cup of tea but Granit Xhaka signing a new contract is great news for the club.

With Jack Wilshere looking like he is off and Aaron Ramsey still yet to sign a contract, Xhaka is a man who the modified can be built around.

Still just 25, Unai Emery needs to get the balance of the midfield right to get the best out of the Swiss international.

Signs Lucas Torreira could be just what is needed to allow Xhaka to excel.

A midfield 3 of:

Xhaka Torreira Ramsey

Has a lot of balance to it.

Since joint Arsenal two years ago, he has had to deal with a lot of criticism from fans and the media.

Xhaka gets a lot of blame for the team being set up unbalanced. He has never really played as the deepest central midfielder.

He needs to be allowed to press and be aggressive. Sitting deep never suited him.

By having someone behind him will allow him to get further forward, to be more aggressive in the middle of the park, and know he has a safety net behind him.

I am predicting that Xhaka playing the ball from deep over the top to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be a route for a lot of goals next season.

Keenos