Should Arsenal go all in for an out and out expensive DM or should they get cheap ones like Gareth Barry and concentrate on attacking signings?
The season finally ended on a positive note, after it had promised to be so much more different at the 20 minute mark of that FA Cup Final at Wembley. Arsenal landed a trophy at last after nine long years, and this could prove to be the potential springboard that fans of the club so wish for the club to have. Arsene Wenger knows better of his squad than any of the myriad experts around the world, and he very well knows how deep a surgery his Arsenal team requires in the off-season.
Pundits and opinionists’ insights and inquests into another déjà vu of a league season is dominated in most parts by the conundrum in the centre of the park. It has been pointed out that Arsenal’s season petering out after the season’s third quarter owed much to the deficiencies in midfield; deficiencies caused by a range of factors and circumstances.
Last summer wasn’t of the ‘wheeler-dealer’ type; neither was it the ‘fending-away vultures’ type. It was a summer of welcome change; there was no sort of outside interest in any of Arsenal’s top players, and Wenger spent good money to bring the precocious talents of Mesut Ozil into North London.
But where did it again go wrong? Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Ozil all played less than 30 games, owing to injuries at various points of the season, and lack of form in the cases of Ozil and Wilshere. In contrast, Liverpool’s ageing Steven Gerrard managed 35 out of the 38 games, while Manchester City’s Yaya Toure managed the same number despite seemingly getting injured at points of the season. Consistency and sustenance breeds success, and Arsene Wenger will be hoping to sign a player with no ‘injury-prone’ attributes checked on his profile.
But therein lies another big question: Whom do they go for? Should they devote all their resources into curing the underlying ailment or should they seek alternate avenues in order to appease the general consensus? Here we analyze the pros and cons of both approaches and try to reach a vivid conclusion.
The expensive Defensive Midfielder
By the term expensive, we mean to point at the obvious Arsenal targets like Bayer Leverkusen’s Lars Bender, Borussia Dortmund’s Ilkay Gundogan, Bayern Munich’s Javi Martinez, Barcelona’s Alex Song or Real Madrid’s Casemiro and Sami Khedira. Like he did with Mesut Ozil the previous summer, Wenger definitely plugged the big creative hole in midfield long left vacant by Cesc Fabregas, although Ozil had struggles of his own during the season. And he needed money to do it, and he will need still more money to piece together the jigsaw.
By signing any of the aforementioned players who are young (average age of 24), talented and highly experienced on the big stage, Arsene Wenger can be assured of quality in central midfield for years to come. He won’t have to make them adapt or learn his way; they are already accomplished stars at their clubs and will be real leaders on the pitch who’ll set precedents for others to follow.
To have those qualities ready-made, Wenger won’t for petty money. He would have to sacrifice and overrule the general public clamour for an attacking signing, and he won’t regret his investment for the next half-a-decade or so. But then, breaking the bank in two successive summers is surely not Wenger, is it?
The cut-price low-profile Defensive Midfielder
The likes of free agent Gareth Barry, Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin and even Newcastle’s Cheick Tiote fits into the description; players who won’t set pulses racing immediately. Of the three, Arsenal fans would look at Morgan Schneiderlin with little disregard, following his breakthrough season at Southampton, while Gareth Barry’s age being 33 is a big factor in disdainfully looking down on him.
But these are targets that are probably realistic, if Wenger thinks of having a good cover for the overworked Olivier Giroud or perhaps an upgrade over the Frenchman. Signing Barry won’t be easy, but Arsenal being Arsenal, it won’t be too much of a stretch. The big fix could be Schneiderlin, but his French connections mean that there is a way for Wenger to negotiate, while Tiote should be a done deal if pursued seriously. This would leave enough cash for the club to sign the likes of Josip Drmic, Loic Remy or Kevin Volland or if he decides to punt high, an Edinson Cavani, Karim Benzema or a Luis Muriel.
Given Arsenal’s obvious lack of firepower up front, a proven supplement to Giroud is of utmost importance, but the fact that the midfield tends to have a shelf life of one-third of the season almost always cost Arsenal in the end. Like Mathieu Flamini, signing Barry will bring tons of experience free of cost. But Schneiderlin is the best available option, and the only worry might be that Arsenal might be drawn into long negotiations which could leave them no time to spend the saved money on.
Having seen the prudence and thriftiness of Arsene Wenger over the years, fans and pundits would predict that he travels on that well-trodden path once again. But like he did a summer ago, he isn’t afraid to splash the cash on the ‘right player’. Having said that, this summer requires a positive overhaul of the club’s roster. Both approaches could yield solid dividends, but the returns on the first approach is far more guaranteed than the second approach, but it will require more heart and guts to loosen the frugal Arsenal purse strings.