I know that Arsenal fans have had our problems with La Liga’s Barcelona at times, sometimes on the pitch with our meetings in the Champions League and sometimes off the pitch as they have poached a few big players off us, especially when Arsene Wenger was working on a very tight budget and unable to fight off transfer interest in his best players. After getting Alexis Sanchez off them last summer, however, I feel a bit better about our relationship.
So maybe the Arsenal fans will also feel a bit better disposed to their midfielder Sergio Busquets, who has often been the target of anger due to his perceived play acting to win free kicks. The question is, would we like him at the heart of our team?
The reason I ask is that the 26-year old has suggested that he could be ready to make a new start after playing in Spain for Barcelona throughout his career, as a Metro report reveals. Busquets went further as well by claiming that England would be his destination of choice were he to leave the Catalan club.
He said, “Perhaps when you play the same style of football for many years you can tire of it and the football in England is very different.
“I envy everything. I admire the Premier League for the quality and style of football.
“I can’t say I’ll definitely play there because things change and I’ve always said I want to stay here for many years, but I’d like the experience.”
In my opinion the Spanish international is the perfect midfield player for Arsene Wenger, with the passing and vision of Mikel Arteta combined with a fantastic work rate, defensive ability and bundles of experience at the very top level. Here’s a little stat comparison from Squawka.com between him, Matic, Schneiderlin and Pirlo of Juventus.
He is also a pretty good player going forward but at Barcelona tends to leave that to the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi. So should Wenger react to Busquets words and try to sign him for Arsenal?