A quick evaluation of Unai Emery signings with ratings by Martin
I was on social media, an Arsenal Facebook group actually, and someone asked what did we think of Unai Emery’s new signings this season and it got me thinking, how have they worked out? Success or failure? aAd so I have decided to give my view on how each player has worked out for us.
Stephan Lichtsteiner
The 35-year-old has struggled really, he is simply too old to adapt his game to the rigours of the Premier League and it has shown, it is fair to say that his signing has not worked out.
Rating 2/10
Denis Suarez
He could have been so good for us but again, he has not worked out too well, not really sure why, it does appear that Emery lacks faith in the loanee and the chances are he will return to Barcelona at the end of the season, that said, there is still time for him to make an impact, if the manager allows it.
Rating 2/10
Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Sokratis has shown his age recently, he is 30 and simply does not come across as a leader in the defence, he should have brought experience and stability to our defence but that has not happened, we do keep conceding goals, he does do a job for sure, but we do need a long term replacement and while he has not been a failure, he not been a success either.
Rating 5/10
Lucas Torreira
What can I say, I like him, ok, he has not developed into a game changer just yet but boy does he have passion and I like that, he can be inconsistent at times but we need to be patient, he is only 23 and overall, on balance he has been a success.
Rating 6/10
Bernd Leno
Top keeper, safe, reliable and does his job, he has displaced Petr Cech which pleased me, never liked Cech in our goal and he deserves to be our number one, he is only 27 and unless something goes dramatically wrong he will be a consistent presence between the sticks for years to come, overall, I rate him as a roaring success.
Rating 8/10
Mattéo Guendouzi
An absolute success for me, I love this kid, yeah I know he has had his bad moments and he does get the nerves jangling but come on, he is just 19, he came from a Ligue 2 side in France and he has adapted to the English game like a duck to water, this lad has a great future ahead of him and he will get better every season, you watch, in three years time he will be a £100 Million player.
Rating 8/10
There you go, that is my opinion, I am sure some of you will disagree vehemently and that is ok, this is purely my opinion based on what I have seen myself this season, I have taken age, experience, performance, future prospects and so forth into consideration and come up with my own ratings.
Martin