With the football season finished, all eyes are now looking towards the transfer window. After a fairly lacklustre first year for Unai Emery, he will be hoping that a strong window can help Arsenal get back into the Champions League and maybe even add some silverware.
With budgetary issues and no Champions League football, signing players is going to be a struggle for Arsenal this season but that doesn’t mean they can’t buy sensibly and improve the squad. I will be going through the positions I believe need strengthening and who would be the best fit.
Centre Back
One obvious signing would be a centre back. With Koscielny’s future in doubt, Monreal and Sokratis both in their 30’s, Holding yet to return from injury and Mustafi being Mustafi, in my opinion, we will need to bring in 2 centre back. We still have the option of Chambers, Bielik or Mavropanos but they’re either not ready or not good enough to start in our already calamitous defence.
For obvious reasons, we won’t be getting anybody of the same calibre as De Ligt, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t cheap options that will improve our defence. While we’ve been linked already too many centre backs I’ve narrowed it down to the 2 I believe would be best. The first target I think we should go for is Mario Hermoso of Espanyol. The 23-year-old had a stellar campaign, which saw Espanyol just miss out on a Europa League place. I think his maturity and ability to read the game would greatly improve our defence.
He’s also a threat going forward from set pieces from which the Spaniard scored 3 goals this season. We would hopefully be able to sign Hermoso for around £20m which is incredibly cheap for a young prosperous defender in the current market.
The other centre back I think we should be looking at is William Saliba of Saint Ettiene. The 18-year-old has caught the attention of many in his debut season, including Arsenal legend Lauren who told AmericanGambler.com that he ‘looks to be a very good player who reads the game extremely well’.
Again, I think we would be able to sign Saliba for between £20m-£30m. Of course we have a limited budget but hopefully, sales of the likes of Mustafi and Elneny will be able to help fund these moves. Other targets I think we should consider are Upamecano and Konate of RB Leipzig, Diop of West Ham and Umtiti of Barcelona although I think some of these will be out of our price range.
Left Back
The next position I believe we need to invest in is left back. With Monreal ageing and maybe leaving added to Kolasinac’s inconsistency and defensive struggles, we will need a new full back. The dream signings would be Leicester’s Ben Chilwell or Lyon’s Ferland Mendy but both will be out of our budget. More realistic options are Celtic’s Kieran Tierney or Ajax’s Nicolas Tagliafico.
Tierney is a young option who like Kolasinac is attack-minded but isn’t as much of a defensive liability. The Scottish international would probably cost around £25m. Tagliafico grabbed a lot of attention during Ajax’s incredible champions league run. It’s known by most clubs that the 26-year-old is likely to leave in the summer, but I can’t see him choosing Arsenal over another club that will be courting him.
Nor can I see Arsenal paying more than those other clubs. For me, the perfect left back to sign would be Jamal Lewis of Norwich. The 21-year-old was integral to The Canaries’Championship title win with his composed defending and his fantastic offensive contributions. It would be a great signing to boost Unai Emery’s defensive rebuild and would probably be the cheapest option as well.
A big issue we’ll have to deal with this summer is a replacement for Aaron Ramsey. I personally believe the best option to replace him would be Adrien Rabiot. He may not be the most like-for-like replacement nor would he be the highest rated replacement but he’s definitely the most logical.
With a limited budget and no Champions League football, we aren’t going to be able to sign the likes of Van De Beek, Ndombele or Tielemans, but being able to get a player of Rabiot’s calibre on a free is a deal we can’t afford (literally) to miss out on.
As a side note, we also must take advantage of investing from within, through the likes of Joe Willock, Emile Smith-Rowe and even Ainsley Maitland-Niles all candidates to take Ramsey’s role.
Winger
Lastly, Arsenal will really need to invest in a winger. Unfortunately, the likes of Nicholas Pepe and Wilfried Zaha will be out of our price range. The obvious choice at the moment is Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser.
With the second most assists (14 in the league last campaign), just behind Eden Hazard, the Scotsman could be the creative link we missed last season. With a lot of Emery’s game plan depending on width, Fraser would be a very sensible purchase.
The only challenge is agreeing a fee with Bournemouth, as they are looking for circa £30m which may be quite a large fee for a player who has only really shone for 1 season. I personally believe it is worth taking that risk, as finding cheap creative wingers is going to be a massive challenge, so getting the man with the 2nd most assists last season would be a step in the right direction.
Arsenal will also benefit from the likes of Reiss Nelson and Bukayo Saka getting into the first team and hopefully adding that extra spark on the wings that we desperately need.
Conclusion
All in all, Arsenal will need to spend approximately £100m if they want to challenge for champions league football in the 20/21 season. This can only be done if we sell, and there is a lot to sell. Getting rid of the likes of Mustafi, Elneny and Jenkinson will add some funds and clear up some ongoing wage issues.
On top of that, we’ll probably see one of Mkhitaryan or Ozil leave. Ozil and Emery just doesn’t seem like it’s going to work, so Emery may ship the German elsewhere to build up funds and take £300k off of the wage list. Currently, it looks like a deal for Thomas Meunier is on the table so who knows what Emery’s summer plan is, but the next 2 months are bound to be interesting, to say the least.
