Arsenal Transfer Ideas: 7 Players the Gunners Should Buy
In my previous feature, Five Players That Arsenal Should Sell, I suggested a few players that should leave Arsenal in order reinvigorate a team that had, quite frankly stagnated badly.
Now for the sake of balance, I have compiled a list of potential targets who would offer the most to improve the Arsenal squad.
This list is not necessarily about players with whom Arsenal have been linked with in the press. More important is their ability to fill the biggest holes in Arsenal’s team.
Wenger has stated that 'things would be different' if Arsenal failed to win anything this season, and the somewhat un-Wenger like price range of a few of these players perhaps reflect a hope for Le Boss to follow through on this claim.
Now obviously it would be impossible for Arsenal to sign everyone on this list. However, even one or two of these players would go a long way towards finally establishing Arsenal as more than the proverbial nearly-men that they are typically dismissed as.
Giorgio Chiellini
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One of the most important components of any successful team is the presence of multiple lock-down players, guys who their manager/coaching staff can look at and say;
- Barring something out of the ordinary, we know that he will be fit for at least 90% of our games this season (i.e. not injury prone).
- We know that, he will give us performances of a high standard in pretty much every game that he plays (i.e. consistently good)
- We feel comfortable not having to worry about that position all season (i.e. first name on the team sheet)
Nowhere is this more important than in the centre of the defense. Chiellini would comfortably tick all those boxes, and finally provide Arsenal with the genuine world-class talent they’ve been sorely lacking at that position for many a year. He can even fill in at left-back if required.
Highly intelligent, physical, savvy; Chiellini really has no discernible weaknesses. If Thomas Vermaelen successfully returns to his pre-injury levels, Arsenal suddenly have one of the best central defensive partnerships in the world.
Chiellini has been half heartedly linked with Arsenal in the past. But Juventus are in serious danger or not even making the Europa League next season. Chiellini has already admitted that spirits at Juve are at rock-bottom, and has reportedly been in a bust-up with one of his teammates. So he’s not exactly unattainable.
Other teams have expressed interest, so Arsenal would have to move fast. And he won’t come cheap, with a €20 million bid quoted as his sale value. But, as Arsenal fans would readily agree, it is better to overpay for quality than underpay for mediocrity.
Or to put it another way, Chiellini would cost around €5 million more than what they paid for Koscielny and Squillaci.
Jan Vertonghen
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For the last year or so, Vertonghen has been a default tabloid transfer target for many clubs. And in all honesty it is somewhat justified, since he has been producing consistently for Ajax for nearly three seasons now.
Vertonghen may never be a world beater, but has the ability to become a consistently solid member of any successful side. Best case scenario - think Rafa Marquez in Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona, or Ivan Helguera in the earlier Galacticos era Real Madrid.
Defensively, he gives you a bit of everything. For Arsenal, he would also be a very versatile piece, able to easily provide much needed midfield cover for Alex Song.
However, interest in Vertonghen could drive his price into the €12 million range. And more importantly, can you really trust Eredivisie players at face value? Is he really this good? Or do his opponents make him look good by their own inadequacy?
But Wenger took a risk with another Belgian centre back from Ajax and, until his injury, Vermaelen had paid off spectacularly. Who knows, maybe lightning can strike twice?
Mamadou Sakho
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Another centre back for consideration, Sakho has been linked with Arsenal in the past – possibly because he fills most of Wenger’s clichéd transfer criteria – young, French and relatively cheap.
Where he does not fit the typical Wenger signing is in his physicality – Sakho has built a reputation as one of the hardest players in Ligue 1. He has all the tools to be an Arsenal and France mainstay for the next decade.
Like Chiellini, he is also an able deputy at left back. And we all know that there has been a long standing need for some competition to light a fire under Gael Clichy.
However, he is still not quite the finished article, and has shown a few flashes of Ballotelism in his behavior. Do Arsenal really need another project?
But if/when he matures, I see nothing but upside for him. He may be worth a punt at around €10 million if other options do not pan out.
Eden Hazard
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It is very rare that Arsene Wenger would openly admit that he wants to sign a player, much less a known, quality player. But that is exactly what has happened, and is one more footnote in the ever growing repertoire of Hazard.
Arsenal fans should be rightfully encouraged by this unusual turn of events. Hazard has been tearing up Ligue 1 for two seasons now, and is a big reason that Lille are top of the league.
The fact that people have frequently compared him to Messi and Ronaldo really tells you all you need to know about what he brings to the table.
We all know that Andrei Arshavin is hit or miss. You could probably still say that about Theo Walcott, plus he’s undeniably injury prone. And even Samir Nasri has cooled off since the New Year.
Hazard would be a lock-down player in the wide-forward position, and may belatedly inspire some directness in the Arsenal approach.
But Arsenal will face a veritable mêlée for Hazard’s signature from every elite club on the continent. Though Hazard had publicly admired Arsenal and Wenger, he has already expressed his preference for Spain. And Wenger knows he cannot lowball this one, with €22 million probably the minimum needed to get Lille to return his calls.
If Wenger can pull this one off, then he would really throw down the gauntlet to the rest of Europe.
Karim Benzema
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In the previous feature, I deemed it unwise for Arsenal to depend on Robin van Persie as their main striker. Now whether Arsenal’s wage structure would allow van Persie into a squad rotation system with a new striker is another matter entirely. But the fact remains that if Arsenal want to go to war, with or without van Persie, they need another quality front man.
Benzema hasn’t exactly dominated at Real Madrid. But he hasn’t been a flop either. It seems that Jose Mourinho’s patented ‘criticism as motivation’ method has worked again. He has picked up more form as the season has progressed, and currently stands at 21 goals in 40 games, a good return by any stretch. If Cristiano Ronaldo would shoot less and pass the ball more, you could bet on that total being more than it is.
What Arsenal would lose in technique and link up play when fielding Benzema instead of van Persie, they would gain in directness and all around physicality. Plus you can count on him being fit for most of the campaign.
Crucially, his future at Madrid is far from certain, what with Gonzalo Higuain’s return from injury, Didier Drogba and Romelu Lukaku being linked, Emmanuel Adebayor as a potential wild card and the inescapable knowledge that Mourinho doesn’t fully trust him.
If Arsenal time it right, Benzema could be had for between €15-20 million, though he might require the highest wages of anyone on this list.
Lucas Barrios
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Another potential foil (or replacement, depending on which way you look at it) for van Persie. Much like Hazard for Lille, Barrios has been one of the main reasons that Dortmund top their league.
Of the few times that I’ve seen him play, he reminds me of a taller Javier Hernandez in his speed and movement. Like Benzema, he will not add as much to Arsenal’s link up play as van Persie. But he is an altogether different type of player, always on the move, ruthless, the modern poacher. He could become everything that Arsenal wanted Eduardo to be.
The only drawback is that at 26 years old, this is only his second season in a major European league. He may have done enough to prove his quality but no team wants to be on the receiving end of a transfer flop.
With the papers linking Chelsea, among other teams, with a move, Arsenal would have to decide if he really is their man. If so, a bid of around €16-18 million would be what Dortmund would ask.
Scott Parker
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Hands up those who watched any West Ham game since the New Year and thought, “Wow, Scott Parker completely bossed the midfield. Best player on the park tonight.”
Now hands up those who have watched Tomas Rosicky, Abou Diaby or Denilson in the last five years and ever thought the same thing?
Of all the moves that Wenger could make to bolster his squad, I think that Parker’s signing would have the least drawbacks attached. In fact the only drawback that I can think of is that he turns 31 in October.
Parker is the rousing personality that Arsenal sorely lacks. He has patrolled Premier League midfields for over a decade. His teammates have gushed about his Churchillian leadership and drive. He leaves it all on the pitch. He never stops running. He throws himself in where it hurts.
Really you could go on and on. The point is that Parker has, to borrow a recent Wengerism, an English heart.
But this is not some uncultured lump defined by his tenacity. Parker can flat out play. He can win the ball without resorting to the dark arts. He can drive his team forward with a storming run from midfield, or pick out the pass that unlocks the defense. In fact, he reminds me of a slightly less technical Jack Wilshere, only with infinitely more experience.
More importantly, given his age and the fact that West Ham is not in particularly rude financial health (and flirting with relegation), Parker could be had for under £9 million. And do you honestly think that he wouldn’t jump at one last chance to compete at the highest level?
Now picture him alongside the likes of Wilshere, Song, and Fabregas (assuming that he stays). If Aaron Ramsey becomes anything close to the player he was threatening to be pre-Shawcross, Arsenal’s entire midfield will be locked down for the next few years.
I wouldn’t even mind throwing in one of Denilson, Diaby or Rosicky just to make up the numbers.
A signing that’s almost too obvious. Which probably means that it won’t happen.
