4664 ball carries: French defender will be a reliable bargain buy for Arsenal

Arsenal are hardly strangers to being linked with defenders over the last few weeks. They did sign William Saliba in the summer and sent him back on loan to St. Etienne. The latest defender to draw links with them is Axel Disasi and a move to the Emirates will make sense for the centre-back according to the best football tipsters online.

While he isn’t as good or well-known as Dayot Upamecano, but Disasi is very much one of the best young French defenders in Europe today. The 22-year-old plies his trade with Ligue 1 club Reims and has become a regular at the back at a young age.

Arsenal have let in 36 goals in the Premier League this season. As always, that is one part of their play that lets them down on a regular basis. Callum Chambers and Rob Holding continue to struggle with injuries, while David Luiz and Sokratis were stop-gap signings. In that sense, they do need a young centre-back who can come in and shore up the backline.

This season, Disasi has made 27 Ligue 1 appearances for Reims. All of them have been starts and this is his first full season at the club, having broken into the first-team when Reims were in Ligue 2 back in the 2016-17 campaign.

Because of his physique, Disasi thrives on being good in the air. He has won 2.81 aerial duels per 90 minutes, doing that with an accuracy of 58 percent. He is good at winning the ball back, making 4.81 recoveries per 90 minutes and coming up with 1.19 tackles per 90 minutes. That isn’t overly high, but there are other parts of his style that shine through.

The defender is very good on the ball too. He plays 17.3 passes into the opposition’s half, doing that with an impressive accuracy of 66 percent too. In his own-half, he boasts of an accuracy of 92.7 percent as well.

Another thing that Disasi is good at is bringing the ball out of the back. Despite being a central defender, he ranks 13th in terms of total carries on the ball. The youngster ranks 7th in terms of distance of the carries, with the distance at 4664 in total. That is the second-best in France and only behind Jason Denayer (Via FBRef).

It shows how he isn’t just a defender who likes to win the ball back and pass it forward. In that sense, he is a lot like Upamecano with just a little less output. And since he is into his first-ever full season at the club, he will only improve from where he is.

Considering he is good on the ball, he fits into the way Mikel Arteta wants his team to play. The manner in which he brings the ball out from the back is what Arteta will want and what David Luiz has often done under him.

With Saliba now signed, Disasi can be a good defensive partner for him at the back. Both are young French defenders and are good on the ball. They present the future that Arsenal want to be projected as a club that is in the Manchester City mould in terms of tactical identity.

Disasi presents a cheap and reliable option at the back. He won’t cost much and the lack of competition will make him an easy player to sign.