Julian Brandt Could Add Fire to Arsenal’s Attack

It’s not long until the next transfer window. This summer is going to be a perfect time to revamp the Arsenal squad for the next Premier League season. Could Julian Brandt be the answer to Arsenal’s midfield?

This season could yet have a good ending to it, perhaps winning the Europa League. The bookmakers are usually right, and Arsenal are unfancied to make it into the Champions League via a top-four finish. With a current gap of nine points, it will be hard to close in on fourth-placed Chelsea.

There is still the possibility of qualifying by winning the Europa League, and Arsenal are already in the competition’s quarter-finals. Qualifying is hard, but actually achieving something once there is even tougher.

Next season will be a vital one for the Gunners, whatever competitions they play in. The current squad needs improving, and an attacking left-sided midfielder such as Julian Brandt is being linked with a move to the Emirates.

40 goals in 29 Premier League games are just not good enough. Manchester City have just four less than that in 16 home matches. Of the top ten in the Premier League, only Aston Villa have scored fewer goals and have a game.

More goals are needed if a top-four finish is going to be achieved next season. Midfield has let the Gunners down this season. Saka has five league goals, but the rest of the midfield has barely contributed at all. Too few chances are being created for Aubameyang and Lacazette. Willian looked a good signing, but he hasn’t scored a league goal this season, though he has had five assists.

Borussia Dortmund could make a fortune in the coming months. Keeping hold of Erling Haaland, Jordan Sancho and Julian Brandt is going to be a difficult task. Arsenal are unlikely to get their hands on the first two of those names, but Brandt is a possibility.

However, one problem is that he’s only scored two league goals this season and just one assist. They aren’t the most appealing statistics, are they? Dortmund have often played him out of position, so that’s one reason for his disappointing return.

In March and April 2016, this is the player who scored in six straight matches in the Bundesliga. That all happened just before he celebrated his 20^th birthday. He was the youngest player to achieve that feat since Gerd Muller. In the years that have passed, that’s the only comparison that can be made between him and that great German striker.

He seemed to be at his best when playing for Leverkusen in central midfield. That worked well for him in the 2018/19 season with an increased number of goals and assists. A return to that could be an idea that could help the Gunners next season.

His most recent goal came against Hertha Berlin. He can certainly shoot from a distance. That was his first goal since January when scoring against his old club Bayer Leverkusen.

Brandt is rumoured to be available for around €25 million, so not a bad price. Well, not when considering how much was spent on Pepe. That’s what he cost Dortmund when signing him from Bayer Leverkusen in 2019.

He has three years left on his contract, but times are changing at Dortmund. Will their new coach Marco Rose want to give him more time to prove himself, or will he let him leave the club. The fact is he hasn’t come up with the goods for Dortmund on a regular basis, so what would he do for Arsenal?

It looks as if he might have a restful summer, though. Brandt has lost his place in the German squad, so he might not be recalled for the delayed Euro 2020. That could prove handy with so many players from the Premier League playing in that tournament during the summer.

Seventy-eight games for Dortmund have produced ten goals, which is disappointing compared to previous performances at Leverkusen. Between 2015/16 and 2018/19, Brandt scored 35 goals for them in 165 games. In his final season with Leverkusen, Brandt scored seven league goals. He also had 11 assists as he helped his team to be fourth in the table. Now, if he could return to that kind of form, then he could be a good summer signing.

With Chelsea’s German signings not being that productive, signing Brandt might be a gamble. Arsenal’s midfield needs beefing up, though, so it could be one worth making.