Could this be the defensive midfielder Arsenal desperately need?

The French midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure has been very impressive for Watford this season and it has been reported that many other Premier League clubs have been noticing the effect he has had for our London neighbours during the current campaign, with Arsenal being mentioned as one of the clubs taking an interest.

Doucoure himself has revealed that he is aware of this interest and has said that Arsenal is the team he would most like to join because of Arsene Wenger being in charge. When he was asked about the rumours that Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal were checking out his performances for Watford, he replied: “It’s true that these clubs are interested. But I’m at Watford for the moment and I want to finish my season well.”

And he even went further when asked which of the clubs he would prefer to join and he didn’t hesitate when he he said: “Arsenal because of Arsène Wenger.”

But we really need to know whether he is an accomplished DM as we have more than enough attacking midfielders at the club. He has garnered much attention this season because he has chipped in with 7 goals for Watford this season, which would make you think he must surely be more of an AM than a DM, but according to Whoscored’s stats, he has played 16 games in central midfield scoring 4 goals, but the other 10 games he has been classed as a DM and he has still scored 3 goals from there!

So perhaps if he can play both those positions he could be the DM that Arsenal really need, but he could still go forward and score goals when we are on the front foot?

Does anyone here think he could be the answer to our problems?

Darren N

27 Comments

  1. We’ve desperately needed a top DM since Viera left. But according to Le Professeur Attacking is in our DNA, so very unlikely to sign a top one. The best we can hope for is homegrown like Bielik or a box2box player with strong defensive skills like Goretzka

    He didn’t try for Kante, Matic, Schneiderlin, Carvahlo so I don’t expect him to change his ways.

    1. viera and schneiderlin were b2b….

      schneiderlin flop at united and carvaho still not wanted by top clubs for years

      1. Viera played Defensive midfielder as well as box to box. His defensive skills were outstanding. His strength, pace, passing, winning back the ball. He was a fantastic all rounder

        I would still prefer Carvahlo and Schneiderlin to Eleny and Xhaka. Who cares if top clubs don’t want him. Do you think we can compete with Top clubs for players? We have to take what’s left.

  2. There’s ZERO chance of Wenger signing a DM ever again! He never bothered with a proper DM again after Gilberto, and sold Coquelin last month, who was the only DM left in the squad. Wenger loathes the defensive side of the game, and his most hated position is DM. Even on the off chance he does sign a DM, he’ll want to turn that player into a box-to-box midfielder.

      1. Guneal is right, Song wasn’t a DM. In fact, I think his last season, or second last season, he got over 10 assists! Which is great, but a proper DM shouldn’t be getting so many assists. He never sat in front of the defence.

    1. Do you the funniest thing? Wenger was a defensive midfielder when he played the game.
      And he doesn’t see the need for a DM. Insane!

  3. No one, player is the answer.
    Not even 2 or 3.
    You need a quality squad of at least 20.
    Then you need a manager
    who can get the best out of every player all season.
    Unfortunately Arsenal has neither the squad quality
    nor the manager capable of being a PL title winner.
    4th is the goal because to compete for 1st place is too expensive

  4. The signing of Xhaka and Elneny shows that Wenger wanted a DM who knows how to pass and are good at the long balls. This means counter attack, and DM who are comfortable on the ball. Its very rare to get players like Vieira who can do it all, look at Pogba, ideally, he should flourish in DM, but so far he has failed. There isnt much quality DM at the moment, even Bakayoko flopped at Chelsea, Matic pass his best at Man Utd.

    DM is not an easy position, i dont think signing unproven stars is worth it.

    1. exactly…some players flourish under different system…

      bakayoko may suit Arsenal style…

      the closest to Viera was Toure and Diaby and Diaby was even a better finisher than Viera….

      its hard to find a new Viera

  5. Doucoure now, Fabinho in another article somewhere, it looks like AFC is after a tough tackling B2B player.

    Someone who can press from high up and have the mobility to also get back and help defend the counter.

    I do think the true Vieira heir will be AMN, that lad has it all apart from experience, once he gains that and as long as he keeps pushing himself, he will be the real Vieira heir.

    We need someone for him to learn from and compete against, someone to ease the burden while we aim to do better next season, someone for the ‘now’ and next few seasons while AMN matures and grows into the all action CM.

    Good signs from AFC.
    Genuine hope that Sven will have talked with Wenger and be on the lookout for the all action CM we need.

    1. Hopefully Sven would NOT have talked to Wenger and is scouting his own targets.Wenger is OUT because of his total disregard and negligence is bringing in Top Quality CB & CDM when it was obvious to everyone for years what was missing.
      As for Doucoure – seriously?Hes touting for a move and probably looked at SISSOKO and how’ve he mugged off the spuds thinking “I’m as good as him.Hes f••king useless.He got a move.If he can do it so can I.

      1. “Wenger is OUT because of his total disregard and negligence is bringing in Top Quality CB & CDM when it was obvious to everyone for years what was missing.”

        Wenger wanted a CB, Sven along with Gazidis spent too long in Dortmund with the Auba deal, instead of paying to get it done quickly they decided to take their time to try and penny pinch.

        If you are going to moan about not signing a CB in Jan then you should know that is more down to Sven not telling Gazidis to sign one and was so focused on getting Auba in.

        Before you or anyone else tries to suggest I am saying Auba was a bad signing, I am a fan of Auba, I have been since we was 1st linked to him and I started to pay attention and got wow’d. The fact is, the people who do transfers for AFC in that window was in Germany sorting out a CF signing and not a CB.

        1. Absolutely correct Midkemma,
          We were told that our new transfer duo would solve all Wengers mistakes because they are responsible for all transfers in and out.
          The players we signed in January (I believe) were a sign of intent from the club and all very good signings.
          But those that want to blame Wenger for everything that goes wrong can’t have it both ways.
          Either Wenger is responsible for the signings or he isn’t.
          I believe that role is now out of Wengers remit (although he will be consulted of course) so let’s start looking at what the duo do achieve from the start of their tenure, which is January 2018.
          There were players available for the CB role, but the duo missed out.
          Let’s not try to cloud the waters by blaming anyone else. It happens!
          Judge them more during the summer window, as we are being told time and time again that only Wenger couldn’t see we needed a CB and a CDM
          So, there shouldn’t be any problems should there?

  6. Gunners are so fixated in the past. What is all these new Viera, Gilberto, Henry etc. No two players are alike. Not even a player born by player plays like his father. I look around football and see no Viera, Henry etc. Why is it only us looking for replacement Henry, Gilberto, Pores and co. Chelsea fans don’t look for the next Drogba or Lampard, manu fans don’t look for next Cantons, scholes,, etc. We should stop all these bullshit of knowing what kind of players will strong again.

    1. When people say another Vieira they mean a tall, strong, competent, fully capable fighting machine who wins almost every duel he goes into and is good at dribbling long lengths of the pitch for inspirational effect.
      When they say they want another Henry they mean they want a lightning quick athlete who is tall strong and a great goalscorer as well as having the ball skills to be highly creative when in attack or dueling markers.

      That would be enough to gain similarity to players. But I do get your point, the odds of getting another not to mention the odds of it being our club that bags them, are absolutely huge. To be as confident and as competent as those two along with the attributes would be rare, but even rarer is Arsenal signing these types of players.

  7. Doucoure is a b2b with good defending skills. He is similar to Vieira big,tall, strong and can run through the midfield with the ball. Since we wont likely buy a true dm this is the best possible choice. It he is tactically responsible enough to manage when to stay back and let either Ramsey or wilshere push forward he could be a interesting signing.
    Next a good cb like de vrij who is out of contract this summer and we will be strong in defence and central midfield.

    1. Arsenal should be looking for a way to sign Wilfred Ndidi from Leicester. The guy is strong, fast and young. He will do just fine for Arsenal. and he will come cheap too.

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