It seems like years that I have been listening to Arsenal fans saying that Arsene Wenger’s team is just two players short of winning the title. Even after the Gunners splashed out this summer the general consensus was that we desperately needed a beast of a defensive midfielder and another centre-back to complete the puzzle. Other suggestions were a top class striker and a better-than-Szczesny goalkeeper.
Our arrivals last summer included Sanchez and Welbeck (striker?) and Ospina to replace Fabianski, while the winter brought us the Angel Gabriel and (very luckily) the return of Francis Coquelin. That sounds like all the boxes were ticked, but yet it is still being said we need two more top class arrivals to make sure of being crowned Premier League Champions.
According to the ex-Gunner Charlie Nicholas the players we need are Morgan Schneiderlin and Raphael Varane. He said on Sky Sports: “I still think they’re two players away from being the real deal but I think Wenger is getting close to identifying who those players are,”
“He’s identified the actual areas that need addressing for the first time and that’s what makes me a lot more confident that, finally, he’s nailed down what the future of this club is.
“It’s the defence and the protection of the defence that need attention – he recognises that now.
“Coquelin has done really well but I would like another holding midfield player to come in, perhaps a Schneiderlin type of player.
“Arsene has brought Gabriel in and maybe he’s thinking ‘I’ve got a replacement for Mertesacker here’. But there’s certainly a case for bringing in a big name at centre-half this summer.
“Ideally, if the situation arose, I’d like to go and get Raphael Varane from Real Madrid, that’s who I’d really love Arsenal to get.”
Not many would disagree with his choices, but for me I would make Petr Cech the foremost target, with Schneiderlin a close second, but who would YOU choose as the two players that we need?