With France heavily dependent on Antoine Griezmann in the absence of Franck Ribery this World Cup, the Real Socieadad star did not disappoint in the first match against Honduras. While his little tricks or his passing skills did not play a part in any of the three goals he showed why major clubs across the world are so after his signature. With Arsenal firmly in the fray with some believing that Carol Vela’s fate very much tied with Antoine Griezmann coming to Arsenal or not, we at Soccersouls decided to take a look as to whether Arsenal really have any need for Antoine Griezmann at the moment.
Primarily a left sided attacker Antoine Griezmann is a tricky customer who is a genuine winger and has the potential to be a world class player at some stage in the future. According to Squawka, Antoine Griezmann has created a total of 34 chances this season for Real Socieadad. Also given the team that Real Socieadad is, the winger has gone on to score 16 goals on his own during the course of the season. Griezmann also has a shot accuracy of 60% which is really good considering all things. With an average pass accuracy of 77%, which is outstanding for a winger where one of the primary job is to cross the ball into the box. Thus the statistics all point to Antoine Griezmann having a pretty great season. However, we all knew that already and the main question is whether he is required at Arsenal.
Let us look at what the priorities are for Arsenal at the moment. Definitely a striker, definitely a right back, also a centre back and maybe a defensive midfielder. These are the players that everyone agrees that Arsenal needs. So where would a left winger fit in at Arsenal? However if you look closely we do not have a natural left winger playing for Arsenal most of the time. It is usually Santi Cazorla playing on the left and although he usually does a fine job out there, that is not his primary duty. With Arsene Wenger not trusting Lukas Podolski on the left wing consistently for some reason it would not be presumptuous to assume that Arsenal are indeed in the look out for a world class left winger if they get one.
Also, after getting Mesut Ozil last season, this purchase would definitely be another statement of intent and will truly say that Arsenal are back to compete with the big boys. Also he is adept at playing with Olivier Giroud due to the connections with the French national team so that would definitely serve Arsenal at the end.
With Antoine Griezmann truly a class act, Arsene Wenger would maybe have been priced out of the player if not for Carlos Vela and the buy back clause. With such a golden opportunity in front of Arsene Wenger to wrap up the player, we at Soccersouls think that is the right things considering all things.