With Freddie Ljungberg moving from the youth set up to the first team set up it would seem logical that some of those young players who played under him will get a bigger role in the first team. The statement from Raul Sanllehi that we will be returning to “project youth” in some form would also point to those players getting more game time and also to us probably looking at younger and less expensive options in the transfer market too. I’ll attempt to take a look at some of the players Arsenal are interested in and assess their chances of actually playing for Arsenal next season.
First up it has to be Kieran Tierney who is currently the most likely player to be Arsenal’s first signing of this transfer window. If the reports are to be believed we have had our first offer turned down and we came back with a higher offer which still falls short of Celtic’s valuation. This one has a bit to play out yet, but it seems quite likely that we could have a new left back at the club quite soon.
I’m not sure where his arrival would leave Sead Kolasinac and whether we might consider selling a player we got on a free transfer only a couple of seasons ago. It didn’t take us long to turn the best left back in the Bundesliga into a very average defender and I wouldn’t be surprised if we sold Kolasinac to fund other targets. Tierney is certainly a very good prospect who has already played a lot of games for such a young player, but it would be a step up in class from Scottish football to the Premier League and he’s had a few issues with injuries too. Overall I think we might just get our man and I hope he can be one of the defenders we so badly need to improve the team.
Another player who won’t seem to go away is Wilfried Zaha and his abilities would certainly be a real asset to our team. However, our limited funds due to our inability to qualify for the Champions League would most likely rule out our chances of signing a player from another Premier League club considering the prices players of his ilk obtain in domestic transfers. Zaha had an unsuccessful spell at United a few years ago before returning to Palace, but he has grown as a player since then.
Personally I would love to see Zaha in an Arsenal shirt, but I can’t see us being able to afford him or the player wanting to join us for Europa League football next season. If he’s going to leave Palace I think he will probably end up at a club playing in the Champions League and the money changing hands will be far too much for Arsenal’s limited budget. Who knows maybe Stan Kroenke will dip into his very deep pockets to stump up the fee and maybe I’ll win the Euro Millions in the not too distant future.
Florian Thauvin is a player who’s name seems to come up season after season alongside that of Arsenal once the transfer window is open. He might have had a bit of a nightmare when he was a Newcastle player a couple of seasons ago, but he has had very good returns in the last two seasons in France with Marseilles. With the team needing to add some flair in wide areas he certainly looks like he might be one to fit the bill, but like so many other potential targets it comes down to price and availability.
I’m not so sure this one is a runner and we’re probably only hearing his name mentioned because it’s one that’s mentioned in virtually every transfer window. I’m not discounting it either because his stats would point to him possibly making a difference and we really need players who can make a difference at the moment.
The stories relating to Yannick Carrasco seem to have gone a little cold recently and the chances of him returning from China seem remote. He’s a little older than some of our other so called targets, but again he’s a player with the ability to make a difference and that’s probably why we’re interested in him or at least rumoured to be. With his Chinese club saying he’s not for sale and a likely high fee if he was I would be very surprised if there was any chance of him plying his trade at the Emirates Stadium next season.
If we’re still on the look out for a central defender we could certainly do worse than Lewis Dunk, but I just can’t see how he’s an improvement on what we already have. He had a very effective partnership with Shane Duffy for Brighton last season, but it’s a big step up from playing for a relegation threatened team to trying to challenge at the top of the table. Given the money exchanging hands for transfers within the Premier League I can only imagine Brighton would want an absolute fortune for what I see as a fairly average player.
He’s certainly no better than who we have already and I can’t see how his arrival would improve our defence. With our defensive problems in recent seasons we need to bring in players who are better than we have already and I don’t see Dunk fitting into that category.
Dan-Axel Zagadou is a player I can’t admit to knowing too much about, but he’s the latest Borussia Dortmund player to have his name linked with Arsenal. Again he’s a central defender and it’s definitely a position where we need to improve, but I’m not so sure a 20 year old with very little first team experience is what we’re looking for. If the reports are to be believed Dortmund have an over supply of players and could be looking to offload some, but I would be surprised if they were to sell a player who looks like he will probably increase in value quite a lot in the next few years.
They did get him on a free transfer from PSG though so it would be all profit for them if we can afford their asking price. At almost six and a half feet his height would be a welcome addition to our defence and according to reports he played well for France in the recent under 20 World Cup. I would still be very surprised to see him play for any team other than Dortmund next season and I certainly can’t see him making his way to Arsenal.
That’s it for today.
See you tomorrow.
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