With only one Premier League game left to go this term, Arsenal have found their Champions League qualification fate in their hands thanks to dropped points from Spurs and Newcastle earlier today. Assuming they do as they should and beat West Brom on the final day of the season, Arsenal will retain their Champions League pulling power and might just have a chance of re-asserting themselves as a major force in English football.
But this will require two things: A few new signings and a serious analysis of their current squad and the usefulness of certain players.
A common accusation thrown at Arsenal is that this current squad has ‘no talent except for RVP’. I read a lot of this while tweeting the Norwich match (are you proud of me? I didn’t call for Ramsey to be killed once!). By now you’d hope people would realise this is bobbins.
Results against Chelsea, Manchester City, AC Milan and that little club that plays near us have proved that while this Arsenal side may not be the greatest Arsenal side assembled, they are still an Arsenal side with a lot of potential. That said, there are some players who don’t really need to figure in future plans for Mr Wenger.
So what I thought I’d do is list those players and then some players who could potentially be brought in to replace them (this solves the 25 man squad rule, though Arsenal’s squad contains a lot of reserve players who could be replaced).
Squillaci/Djourou (the Gruesome Twosome)
Whenever these two characters appear on the team sheet you know Arsenal are in for a rough afternoon. Both suffer from a lack of confidence (and talent) and were largely responsible for Arsenal’s defensive collapse of last season. Both could fetch a decent-ish price from lower league clubs and should be sold.
To be replaced by...
Vertoghen/returning Mertesacker: Jan Vertoghen would be a fantastic purchase as a utility man and as CD competition for Koscielny and Vermaelen. While Mertesacker isn’t fantastic, he’s a darn sight better replacement than the two miscreants I’ve listed above.
I think Gibbs and Santos are decent enough at left-back, Gibbs more so, and Santos has a future played on the left-wing. Coquelin has done just fine replacing Sagna and will continue to do so.
Aaron Ramsey
Yes, yes, he has great potential and has it in him to be the next Steven Gerrard. Why doesn’t he go and play for Liverpool then? Even when playing well there are alternatives to the Welsh captain, and I really think he’d do better at a different PL club who might make more use of him.
To be replaced by...
Lewis Holtby: Rumour has it that Arsenal have already agreed to sign this young German, and he will serve well as an attack-minded central midfielder. He is alert on the ball and apparently knows where the goal is, without killing celebrities when that happens. So all in all, a no-brainer.
Abou Diaby
Too many injuries have rendered the Frenchman a liability. While he’s undoubtedly talented it’s too much of a risk to count on his staying fit. The same was said about Van Persie, I know, but he has a natural replacement:
Yann M’Vila: Providing he doesn’t move to the slammer instead of Arsenal, this particular French defensive midfielder opens up new options for Alex Song as well as giving Arsenal a proper defensive dimension in defence. As long as the board are willing to meet his rather large transfer fee, this would be a fantastic signing.
Theo Walcott
Yes. Him. His lack of consistency has made him somewhat of a bogey figure around the Emirates, with flashes of his best only showing occasionally. That said, those flashes will mean Arsenal can demand a potentially large transfer fee to buy...
Dries Mertens: Who? Why, Eden Hazard’s Eredivisie-playing, more assist-making and more goal scoring fellow Belgian wing partner, of course! Available at a fairly cheap price from PSV, this player would give Arsenal a consistent player on the wings without the risk of moving to Manchester City Hazard would bring.
Alternatively we could just use Ryo. But why take the risk?
Park Chu-Young
The Korean clearly isn’t going to be playing much football, and with Fulham interested selling him will be easy. It’s a shame his move didn’t work out, but it happens sometimes. I’m actually a fan of keeping Chamakh, as with a run in the team he could do alright, as his performance against Norwich showed.
We don’t need to sign a replacement, as the on-loan Costa Rican Joel Campbell has been excellent for Lorient this season and should get his work permit, which was the only reason Park was signed anyway.
Also, Podolski.
I’m interested to hear what you think about this, and I’m aware that the chance of this many signings and sales happening is highly unlikely.
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