Arsenal meet the representatives of Ligue 1 star
Arsenal’s technical director Edu has reportedly met the representatives of Lille’s Jonathan David, ahead of a potential move to North London this month.
Even though Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic still remains the number one choice of manager Mikel Arteta, Arsenal might not have everything in their hands.
Talks with the player and the representatives are proving to be a stumbling block for the Gunners in their bid to land the 21-year-old.
Arsenal might then be forced to look into alternatives and Jonathan David looks to be the second in line in the list, according to the Arsenal specialist Chris Wheatley, who tweeted: “Edu has met with the representatives of Arsenal’s striker targets in recent weeks. Lille forward Jonathan David is on the shortlist and his agent met with Edu at the end of December.”
The Canadian international has 34 goal contributions for his current club Lille in 75 appearances. His record at former club KAA Gent was even more exceptional.
The young forward had 52 goal contributions in 83 appearances. With David still 21, you can only wonder if sky is the limit for him.
These are exciting times for the Arsenal fans. It is an open secret that the Gunners want to land a few players into their ranks this month.
‘Who it will be’ makes things even more exciting. I won’t be surprised if the Gunners end up pursuing the deal for Jonathan David.
Landing Vlahovic looks complicated and if Arsenal do land his alternative, I won’t lose much sleep on it, because David is another name which can take the London side to the next level.
Scored less than Pepe in Ligue 1.. Doesn’t seem to be anything special.. We don’t want to do that mistake again, do we?
True, but Pepe was not signed by Arteta or Unai.It was done by a non coaching member and shoved upon the coach. No wonder he failed two coaches. Mikel is at another level when it comes to spotting and nuturing talent, provided they accept him as their mentor.
What talent has he nurtured exactly? Saka and ESR were both brilliant long before he was our coach and Saka was already in the first team and ESR only was played based on many injuries, not because he was given an actual chance. Martinelli was benched for almost a year when Auba was terrible but still kept sitting bench. Only Auba’s discipline changed that, not his poor form.
The young players that you could mention are Balogun, Azeez, Patino and Nketiah that would have actually been nurtured by MA and we haven’t seen much produced from them, not currently anyway.
Good points made. The idea that some give Arteta credit for so many of the young players is not factual.
You make great points about Saka, ESR, and Martinelli, who could argue otherwise.
If Arteta was the “whisperer” that others say, why is Saliba, Guendouzi, Nelson on loan rather than nurtured at Arsenal?
Also, Nketiah has hardly improved since he first joined the first team how many seasons ago?
I just mention that after all this time he still can’t get a tune out of Nketiah. It reminds me of that obession over Willian and trying to prove the world wrong about their quality and production.
Thank you for saying whats on my mind! Players are regressing under arteta and the brilliance of our youngsters has nothing to do with him as they were brilliant way before him getting the job! I’m now believing arteta is a sorcerer of some sort.. How he’s still at the helm and still has support and gets credited for things he didnt even do? I really do not know.. After the first 3 losses i havent watched any game and i wont until this fraud is gone
be calm & lets allow arsenal make their signings, that was how we underated Aaron ramsdale before he was signed
After the success of this past summer window which initially looked weak to me but now I have to admit was a great window, I will give Arteta and Edu the benefit of the doubt, so any striker they bring in this January will be welcomed by me.
Not bad at all, looks good, has good holdup play, pace, well after the last transfer window, I can say Arteta has done well, with Ramsdale, Odegaard, Tomiyasu, Tavares,
I’m really wondering how we will win this week’s matches,
Good points made. The idea that some give Arteta credit for so many of the young players is not factual.
You make great points about Saka, ESR, and Martinelli, who could argue otherwise.
If Arteta was the “whisperer” that others say, why is Saliba, Guendouzi, Nelson on loan rather than nurtured at Arsenal?
Also, Nketiah has hardly improved since he first joined the first team how many seasons ago?
I just mention that after all this time he still can’t get a tune out of Nketiah. It reminds me of that obession over Willian and trying to prove the world wrong about their quality and production.
second choice?? according to my calculations he’s in the 5th or 6th option…he’s an interesting player, whom I’ve watched on numerous occasions in Belgium, France and for the Canadian National team, but not sure I would want to pay over the number to acquire his services then have to rely on him to take us where we want to go…we simply can’t settle when it comes to addressing our Striker position
he’s the NOT he’s in the
So who would you buy and why?
as I’ve discussed on multiple occasions, I would want to know exactly what our future plans are tactically-speaking, as that should play a prominent role in any decision involving such a crucial positional need…of course, my first choice, regardless of the particulars and if money was no object, would be Haaland…as I fear this is about as likely as us securing Mbappe’s services, due to the glaring lack of ambition we shown for well over a decade, I would then turn my attentions towards Vlahovic, who appears to be a much better option than say a Calvert-Lewin, as he’s similarly proficient with headers and more likely to score on occasion from distance
now if we’re planning on deploying a scheme that doesn’t lend itself to a more traditional Striker, like the forward-centric Pool schematics or the post-Aguero City model, I would likely approach the search in a vastly different fashion…if this were the case, I would target players who tend to be more selfless and involved in games, from a link-up play perspective, which is where a David or even an Isak might make infinitely more sense
unfortunately, the problem with this recruitment model is that it’s difficult to properly assess how a particular player might gel with already rostered players, which is so incredibly crucial…likewise, and much in the same vein as Laca, this type of player will likely score less than their more traditional counterparts, so you invariably become far more reliant on getting your production from elsewhere and right now I don’t see Saka and Marts putting up Salah/Mane-like numbers, which could be quite problematic as their perceived contributions might not justify the considerable financial outlay
as it stands right now, the most concerning element of the entire process, as I stated earlier, is the fact that I don’t know what our manager’s tactical aspirations are for the foreseeable future and as such I would hedge my bets and simply get the Striker who has the greatest potential to score the most goals…that way if the manager is shown the door or he’s unable to acquire those players who would allow him to switch tactics, we might still have a chance to compete…not to mention, god forbid, if we have to hit the reset button again at least we would have either a centerpiece figure to build around or a potentially valuable asset to help finance said reboot
My thoughts are in line with yours on this subject. Will add, a player’s willingness to come is also important.