Arsenal linked with a January move for highly experienced Serie A star

Arsenal join list of teams looking to sign Dries Mertens.

Arsenal has been linked with a move for Napoli’s 32 years old attacker, Dries Mertens, according to reports in the Italian media.

Mertens has proven over the years that he is one of the best attackers in European football. He was initially an out and out winger before being converted to a striker. The Belgian has gone on to score 88 times for Napoli since he joined them in 2013.

However, he is in the final year of his current deal and clubs are targetting him for a move in the January transfer window.

Arsenal is joined by city rivals, Tottenham in the race for his signature. However, both teams face competition from Juventus, Inter Milan and AS Roma.

Napoli is very unlikely to give him a new deal because of his age and his part in the dressing room revolt that took place this past week.

Mertens would bring valuable experience and an attacking group of him, Aubameyang, Pepe and Lacazette would be enticing.

That said, in his prime, Mertens was a formidable player, however, I am not so sure he is at that level anymore.

I can see the attraction of such a player but is he really what Arsenal need now? The frontline is not a big problem. Arsenal needs creative midfielders and strong defenders, especially in the centre.

Then there is his stamina and playing in the high-intensity Premier League. Would he be able to adapt? Again, I am not so sure.

Put it this way, this is not one to get excited about in my opinion.

19 Comments

      1. Luiz was purchased because we needed a CB and Kallstrom was loaned because Wenger needed a CM

        We already have plenty of attackers, unless one of them leaves

  1. Age means nothing. Shevchenko and Ronaldo are still good for example. It depends on how well they play NOW

    People don’t switch off at a certain age. Federer and Nadal are much better at their respective ages than McEnroe and Connors and Sampras were in their mid 30s

    It’s about how players are playing NOW that matters

  2. Senior players can be good addition if they fit our style of football. But we don’t have a particular style of football anymore. So hiring old players is a risk Arsenal would be wise not to take.

  3. I don’t see this as a reliable report – I know we are not beyond buying older players (Luiz for example) but they are usually when we need some experience in that area of the pitch – we do not lack experience in our forward line, add in our main targets for recruitment have been young stars with huge potential – either they will be a hit and fulfill their potential or have relatively good resale value due to age and EPL experience.
    So for me personally it makes no sense from a team or business perspective making it highly doubtful imo 🤷‍♂️

    1. My initial thoughts as well, however, they bought Pepe for 72 million when we needed a central defender. nothing would surprise me with Arsenal right now.

      1. We needed a true wide player too and I rather suspect the board had planned on keeping hold of Kos and Monreal until the summer. That would have given us some stability at the back whilst Holding returned to fitness and assessed on whether he would fit with Saliba next season. Them wanting out threw a spanner in the works which we tried to solve with Upamecano but not enough time left to get the deal done, so we grabbed Luiz instead 🤷‍♂️
        Obviously just my opinion on how it all played out but seems the most likely explanation to me.

  4. If true, why? We don’t need attackers we have defensive issues and creative midfielder issues!

    Got to be BS..

  5. The thing is the manager looked at his batch of centre backs and felt that with 6 Luiz, Sokratis, Mustafi, Holding, Chambers and Mavropanos he had enough. Now in terms of numbers 6 has proved enough, in fact one of those has not played yet this season, 1 has only played 1 game at centre back whilst 2 others have hardly featured at all.

    The problem is lack of quality. Not one of our centre backs would get in the Liverpool or city teams probably not even Chelsea’s, Leicester’s or spurs.

    I personally would rather see us struggling with chambers and holding. I would put Luiz or torreira directly in front of them, sometimes both if needed.

    Guendozi would be my number 8 at all times, with willock giving him a breather in the cups.

    Time to get some stability. The best x1 are all fit and the only players getting near to that should be the ones on form.

    Leno
    Bellerin Chambers Holding Tierny
    Torreira Guendozi
    Ozil
    Pepe Lacazette Aubameyang

    Martinez, Luiz, Kolasinac, Niles, Willock, Ceballos, Martinelli

  6. I don’t see the point in signing anyone in the january window if Emery is still here.He would probably kill them with his endless change of tactics.

  7. If true and i doubt it is, i haven’t seen an awful lot of him but what I’ve seen, i have been underwhelmed.

  8. What we need is another Santi Cazzorla. Unfortunately there are not any available for less than £100 million and I doubt we could ever attract such a player to Arsenal under the present regime. We do not need another striker even if one leaves which I believe Laca will probably do at the end of the season if not before.

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