Reports – Arsenal Willing To Sign £17.5m Rated World Cup 2018 Star – End Of Elneny?
Ever since Gilberto Silva left Arsenal, Arsenal have not really brought in a defensive midfielder that can be said to be the true replacement for the Brazilian. We have had Denilson, Song, Coquelin, Flamini, Arteta and now Xhaka but bar Arteta and Flamini all were big flogs.
Arteta was really never a defensive midfielder but whenever he was called upon, he always did a good job. Flamini was superb but didn’t last long before leaving on a free transfer to AC Milan. Xhaka who was signed two years ago, was who I personally thought would be the solution to our defensive problems. Unfortunately so far, he has shown to be more of a deep lying midfielder (box to box if you want) than a defensive midfielder.
He had a terrible start to last season which affected our final standing and from all indications Emery has replaced him with Lucas Torreira who rumours has that has signed for us and is only waiting for a medical to be done for the deal to be final once Uruguay finishes their world cup campaign.
But despite the reports of Torreira deal being all but done, rumours are that Arsenal are interested in signing Sevilla star Éver Banega which sounds very odd to me. Unless someone is leaving our team, we really do not need another defensive midfielder if truly we are signing Torreira, which I think we are.
According to the reports, Éver Banega has a release clause put at €20 million which considering the inflation in the market is quite cheap. Personally I won’t mind if Banega is coming in as a replacement for Elneny who if you ask me will be sold this summer. Xhaka doesn’t look like he will be sold after signing a new contract. Elneny is the likeliest to leave to free space for Banega. With Wilshere also gone, we should have room for Banega but only IF Elneny is getting sold. Cazorla is also gone which makes our options even more limited if Elneny goes.
What will however be interesting to see is who Emery will play as the first choice among Xhaka, Torreira and Banega (if the later two indeed end up at ours). He could rotate two of them for the Premier league and Europa but will the third person who will hardly play unless in the cup games be happy?
Or could it also be that Ramsey is leaving? I hope not but unless he signs a new contract, I won’t rule it out.
Anthony