Arsenal Transfer News: Gunners Must Reignite Interest in Luiz Gustavo

Arsenal need to act fast before they watch another great player slip through their grasp.

The Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung reported Wolfsburg are ready to offer a contract worth €7 million a year to the 26-year-old midfielder (h/t Stephan Uersfeld of ESPN FC).

No deal has become official, though, and Bayern's chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, is not a fan of Luiz Gustavo going to the Bundesliga club. He told Sport1, "The question is whether Luiz wants to join a club that will sadly not even play [in Europe] next season, or if he wants greater things" (h/t Gary Jones of the Daily Star). 

More than likely, Rummenigge just wants to avoid having Gustavo stay in Germany. To a certain extent, though, he's got a point. The Brazilian would be much better off going to a club that is more stable than Wolfsburg and is actually playing in Europe.

If Arsenal get serious about Gustavo, they'd surely have the upper hand. Wolfsburg only finished 11th in the Bundesliga last season. The Gunners would be able to offer Champions League football to the midfielder.

The issue would be whether or not they meet Bayern's valuation and give Gustavo the right contract.

Should Gustavo go for something in the £15-20 million range on less than £100,000 a week, that's a very reasonable deal, which is more and more becoming a rarity in the transfer market. That deal would be within Arsenal's transfer budget and doesn't burden their wage bill too much. You don't often get players of Gustavo's quality for that kind of price.

At many other top European clubs, Gustavo would be a lock for the starting XI. Unfortunately for him, he plays for a club that has one of the deepest midfielders in the world. Playing time was a concern for Gustavo last season after Javi Martinez came into the side. Now Bayern has gone out and added Thiago Alcantara and Mario Gotze, further pushing Gustavo down the pecking order.

What's Bayern's loss would be Arsenal's gain.

The Gunners would immediately address one of the biggest concerns for the club over the past few seasons. They haven't been able to find a consistent defensive midfielder since Patrick Vieira left.

Abou Diaby is too much of an injury risk, and Jack Wilshere is better off just being a creative presence in midfield rather than having to defend on top of his playmaking duties.

Mikel Arteta has been a very good holding midfielder and transformed his game since moving to the Emirates. He's still not the kind of defensive presence Arsenal need. Plus, at 31 years old, though, you can't expect him to play 40-50 games a season and still be effective for much longer.

Gustavo can be an upgrade to Arteta in the short term and be the long-term replacement.

With their playing style, the Gunners wouldn't want to buy a defensive midfielder who is nothing more than a destroyer and incompetent on the ball. Fortunately, Gustavo is far from that kind of player.

Much like many of his peers, he can win the ball back and then thread through the pass that starts the counterattack.

In 22 Bundesliga appearances last season, Gustavo completed 93 percent of his passes, according to WhoScored.com. That would have been good enough for first on Arsenal. His average pass total of 42.7 a game would have only been 11th-best on the Gunners, though.

While you'd see Gustavo's passing accuracy drop a few points, he'd still be a very good passer in Arsenal's attack. Talent is talent, no matter where you're playing.

It wouldn't be enough to make Arsenal title contenders, but buying Luiz Gustavo would be a great move and start that process of getting the Gunners back to the top of the Premier League table.