Why Arsenal should have signed Nicolo Barella
Arsenal suffered their first loss of the season against Liverpool at Anfield, which has historically always been a difficult fixture for the Gunners. The main difference this time was that it was a more respectable scoreline, as opposed to the humiliation suffered in the past.
Dani Ceballos put in a Man of the Match display against Burnley and didn’t have his best game against Liverpool, which even the best players in the world have struggled with.
However, the more important factor here is that Arsenal don’t have the option to buy him on a permanent deal after his loan expires and perhaps should’ve moved for another option in the summer – like Inter Milan’s new loan signing Nicolo Barella.
Barella is a 22-year-old midfielder, who has joined Inter on loan from Cagliari. He has also represented the Italian national team.
Barella is an intelligent, promising and composed midfielder. His main strength is his ability to dribble out of tight areas, which is an extremely useful ability due to an increasing number of sides who press from the front.
This isn’t his only ability as he can take shots from range, has the mobility to move box-to-box and recover the ball quickly. His versatility is another factor as he can play in any position from a slightly deeper midfield role to a more advanced one.
Despite being quite young, he is fairly vocal and often gets into conflicts with the referees. A club like Arsenal could use someone with these virtues as they’ve lacked a bit of a backbone in the last couple of seasons.
His ability to lead by example in the dressing room would’ve been fantastic and he would’ve been very affordable for the Gunners.
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However, Arsenal face a tough task over the weekend as they’ll be playing rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who have been struggling since the turn of the year.
Both sides will have their own narrative as to why this is an important game and could have an impact on the rest of their season.