Is Arteta keen to unleash another midfield set-up next season? Daniel O
Arteta is eager to transform his midfield. This is evident from David Ornstein’s most recent claim about Arsenal’s transfer plans, as reported by Football London. The reputed journalist has disclosed four elite midfielders Arsenal are interested in prior to the summer transfer window. These four are Declan Rice, Moises Caicedo, Mohammed Kudus, and Mason Mount.
Looking at the four, I feel whoever joins will be guaranteed to start. Arteta’s project has reached a point where it requires the acquisition of top players who can make an immediate impact on the club. The days of signing promising prospects and hoping they’ll reach their limit should be long gone by now.
Could this be the end of a Partey-Xhaka-Odegaard midfield? It could be.
Personally, I believe that deals for Rice or Caicedo, or even both, should be prioritised. If both are signed, Xhaka may lose his starting role, while Partey may see less playing time. Rice might replace Xhaka in the starting lineup, while Caicedo and Partey compete for the sixth spot.
Thereafter, it will be intriguing to see if either Mount or Kudus can bench Odegaard. But I doubt that would happen; Odegaard appears to be undroppable.
Anyway, Kudus’ ability to play as a number could expand Arteta’s attack options. Mount’s signing could benefit Arsenal because of his Premier League and Champions League expertise.
Let’s imagine for a moment that you were Arteta. Which two of the four midfielders named above would you sign? And what’s your dream Arsenal midfield setup?
Daniel O
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If rumours Arsenal going to sign Kante from Chelsea are true that will be the end for me don’t we ever learn our lessons keep getting Chelsea rejects who offer absolutely nothing to the team!
Caicedo and Rice can work for arsenal
Hear, hear. Kante has a use by date which may have already expired. But then again, who would give Ornstein that much respect to believe his speculations.
Errr… When did Ornstein mention Kante?
In sorry AdPat I spoke too soon earlier the ads are covering posts worse than ever and I’ve had to type this blind.
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Thank you AdPat and sorry to complain.
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There has been talk about Kante coming but I don’t know if Ornstein said it.
Not mentioned by Ornstein but read the story that kante had already agreed to join Arsenal was just making a comment that hope this is not true! Personally I would still love rice at Arsenal think will take his game to another level and will add even more to his game!
Rice will definitely be a success. I love Kante, he’s a model pro, humble and talented, drove a Mini when the show-offs were driving their flashy cars, but it may well be too late in his career for us to get anywhere near the best of him. We missed the boat there.
Caicedo and Kudus for me any day.
If I were Arteta, I’d sign Caicedo and Kudus. Caicedo is used to play with Brighton’s high ball possession playing style and Kudus was impressive in World Cup
Rice’s aerial ability is good, but I’m not sure about his capabilities in one-on-one situations
As for Mount, he played in the final-third too much for my liking. Kudus is better aerially, left-footed and more pacey than Odegaard
Muhammed Kudus was unbelievable in the World Cup. I’d love to see him at Arsenal. Caicedo probably yes. Rice yes. Zaha NO, Mount NO.
Neves NO. Watkins maybe. Purchasing tried and tested PL players worked for Man City. They took a number of our players didn’t they. Nasri, Adebayor, Kolo, Vieira?, Clichy. It’s great when foreign players do well for us in the PL, but it’s a waste of time when they don’t. Unknown quantities can be risky, like Fabio V, Tavares etc,
I’d like to have Watkins at Arsenal too. He is also a Gooner
I’m not really sure how good Ollie is. He’s certainly in a purple patch right now. Earlier this season I thought about how consistent Ivan Toney is but a number of issues have cropped up since and he got alot of stick after that draw at Emirates. He is good though. It’s a shame that Calvert-Lewin has become so injury prone as he was at one time a more than just promising player. I wonder if Osimhen would be a success here. Will we ever know ?
Watkins might not be as consistent as Haaland at goalscoring, but he held off our CBs every time we play against Aston Villa
We could forget about Osimhen, because he would most likely cost more than 100 M. I also liked Calvert-Lewin’s physicality, but his long injuries might have lowered his level
Calvert-Lewin scored the winning goal for our Under-20s in a World Cup Final a few years ago. That was a good sign that he would go all the way to the top. It’s a shame that it is now unlikely to happen. I can see Watkins at Arsenal.
He did well one on one with partey. Took the ball off him and westham scored immediately!
Mount wouldn’t make sense as we have Odegaard, unless Arteta is thinking of a slight change in the system.
Has to be Rice or Caicedo for me.
From what I’ve seen, caicedo plays more of a box to box role for Brighton, and could be very well suited to the position xhaka plays. He may have played as a true holding midfielder, like partey, in the past, but if not, I think he has the skillset to move into that role over time.
Rice, I’m not sure about. I see him as very good defensively and a physical presence, but i don’t think he has the close control to do what partey does. That position is not just about winning the ball back from the opposition, in our side the ability to receive the ball under pressure and find a way to move the ball forwards is absolutely crucial, and I haven’t seen that kind of finesse from Rice.
In the box to box/xhaka role, rice would probably be a lot better because he’s a strong athlete and a good presser, but again, I don’t think he’s good enough *with* the ball to warrant a large transfer fee. He’s probably not an improvement on xhaka, perhaps a fairly similar level (though xhaka does have a killer pass in his locker that I haven’t see from rice).
Kudus is interesting – he’s more of an attacker, but could work along the lines of a bernado silva. City evolved partly by packing their side with skillful attackers like him in positions normally occupied by less skilled, more physical players (that’s how I see it at least!). I’m not keen on copying what others have done (by the time you make the change, the innovators have often already moved to the next thing) but it could be in arteta’s thinking.
I sincerely hope the rumours concerning Mount are without foundation.If I had one pick it would be Caicedo, and if we were loaded I would also recruit Rice.
Grandad, Mount is not good enough methinks. I don’t like to see promising players not taking their opportunities and falling away as Mason has. Whilst there may be reasons for his decline that we are not aware of, he should have been ripping it up by now. Lots and lots of money sometimes goes to their heads and they slack off. I hope my boy Saka never suffers from that. He has been off since talk of earning loads of money.
We’ll hopefully get a chance to have a good look at him again on Tuesday.
I think Mount is suffering with the whole Chelsea team right now, and needs to get out to revive his career, and playing with his mate Rice might be just the antidote.
Jax, I don’t want to have a good look at him on Tuesday. What if he does us in ? I don’t want any Chelsea players to turn up and bother us.
Fortunately Reece James is out for the rest of the season. A fit Reece could have hurt us. If we allow them to score even one, I’ll be very upset.
EvGunner, if he does play and in the unlikely event, “does us in”, that might be reason enough to buy him.
Look at the positives.
Mount is not an alternative for Caicedo/Rice. Well not directly at least.
If we buy Caicedo/Rice, I think Partey will be playing more as B2B with the new acquisition being DM.
If we buy Mount, Partey will play like he’s played until now while Mount taking Xhakas role.
I don’t want us to spend +70 million pounds on DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER. That’s just PL clubs ripping us off.
I’d go for Sportings Ugarte who wouldnt cost more than 50 million euros.
His style of play replicates Kantes play at Leicester and Caen before that:
– tough tackler, doesn’t score much
– intercepts well but clean
– tall enough at 6 feet
– fairly quick
– already Uruguay regular at 22 years of age
– displaced Palhinha last season, who’s doing wonders at Fulham now
Also I don’t understand Mounts hate by Chelsea fans. Last season he scored 10 and assisted another 11. That’s Frank Lampard numbers for a midfielder.
I prefers ceicedo and kudus to arsenal,i think they can feet to arsenal’s system directly..and add additional force
Truth be told…Odegaard in intense games he doesn’t deliver at all at all. I think he tenses so if we get Mount or Kudus it will be a great addition. Definitely, Rice will be a great addition and the most importantly Caicedo I love the guy. His ball control and game reading is on another level ♥️.
Rice and Milinkovic Savic would be an ideal signing for me. We really need to shuffle our middle field next season and rotating players will be key. I like Xhaka and Partey partner but it’s high time we injected something new. I know Elneny has been royal to us but it’s high time we released players like him and Smith Rowe…..
My dream line up
Ramsdale
White Saliba Gvarviol Zinchenko
Milinkovic Savic. Rice
Saka. Odegaard. Trossard
G. Jesus
Maybe the pundit Lee Dixon is right, Arsenal main target is the Caicedo , he claims the others are Smoke screens.
What we do know, the gaffer has a firm interest in Moises Caicedo and there will be a clear price set take it or leave him Brighton style, this deal will be easier to complete.
A deal to take Declan Rice to the Emirates will not be so straight forward, he’s English and that spell inflated price and with only a year left on his contract, not a dime over £60 mil makes any sense.
Caicedo for G Xhaka’s position, and at a pinch he might be versatile enough to play another role. Not sure about Rice, he’s a good tackler and he does more running than Xhaka, though he’d be for Partey pos. Mount, no, I don’t want any more Che players. Kudus I do not know him, I didn’t watch the world cup
That made me laugh! ‘Pundit Lee Dixon’. He is indeed, and no offence meant. However his opinions on Arsenal will always be coloured by playing for us for 14 years.