Ilkay Gundogan Transfer Link Will Not Make Up for Injury Blow to Mikel Arteta

Arsenal have been dealt a significant blow with the news that Mikel Arteta is due to be sidelined for around three months after undergoing ankle surgery, as confirmed on the club's official website. Not even a spurious transfer link with Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan will assuage the fears of the Gunners fans.

Arteta has not played since November 26, in the 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund. With rest not proving enough to remedy the complaint, the club elected to send the midfielder for an operation. 

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At the time, Arsene Wenger said he expected Arteta to miss three to four weeks. However, he is yet to emerge from the treatment room to the training field, and a long spell out of the side is ahead for the midfielder.

Although many Arsenal fans are hoping for Wenger to acquire an upgrade on the ageing Arteta, his importance to the side can not be underestimated. Arteta might not be the most physically intimidating of Premier League performers, but he is blessed with astute positional instincts and an ability to instigate Arsenal’s attacks from deep in their own half. 

In recent weeks, Francis Coquelin has shown he can be an able understudy, but there are still deficiencies to be overcome in his game. According to Squawka, his completed-passes ratio in the recent win over Stoke City was just 80 percent. For a player at the base of a midfield that is accustomed to dominating possession, that’s worryingly poor.

With the transfer window open, a link to Dortmund’s Ilkay Gundogan makes a degree of sense. Like Arteta, Gundogan is a composed and intelligent manipulator of the ball—more of a deep-lying playmaker than a pure destroyer. He may not fit the mould of a midfield powerhouse such as Nemanja Matic, but he seems to fall more in line with Wenger’s vision of how he would like his holding player to operate.

Would the manager who chose Arteta as his "pivote" really look to replace him with a muscular alternative? Most of Gundogan’s football this season has been played in an advanced role behind the strikers. Wenger might be inclined to put him through the same conversion process that saw Arteta transformed into a primarily defensive player.

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According to Metro (h/t The Telegraph), Arsenal are hopeful of holding constructive talks over a £20 million deal for the German international.

That may be wishful thinking on the part of Arsenal. Although Dortmund’s form this season has been nothing short of disastrous, that does not guarantee that stars will flee from Jurgen Klopp’s side. If anything, it’s bound to make BVB less inclined to let their big players leave: Every possible resource is required for the battle to get clear of the relegation zone and back in to European contention. Any move for Gundogan would surely have to wait until the summer.

As far as this window is concerned, Arsenal will have to turn their sights elsewhere. In the meantime, they’ll wait anxiously for Arteta’s return. He might not be perfect, but he remains the best holding midfielder Wenger has at his disposal.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout the 2014-15 season. Follow him on Twitter here.