Will Arsenal buy Mahrez after fabulous Lacazzete addition? by Konstantin Mitov
Hello good old Arsenal fans from around the world! So we’ve added Lacazzete, which is an incredible signing in my opinion. I am so happy with him, because I strongly think he’ll fit like a glove to our system. We tried Sanchez up front and it turns out having a dynamic striker works with the amount of creative talent we have.
Whether we’d keep that talent and pair it up with him is another matter. Reports suggest Sanchez wants 400k a week, but in my opinion he’s trying to price himself out of a deal with us. I think he wants to leave for Pep and City. We made incredibly generous offers to both Ozil and Alexis and if they don’t stay with the signings we made and hopefully will make, then you have to hold your hands up and admit that they just want to leave.
But if they stay, look at Alexis, Ozil and the Ox behind Lacazzete. Not too bad I’d say, but it could get even better if we sign Riyad Mahrez. I think that Lacazzete will suit Mahrez in similar ways to Vardy in Leicester. And with the quick feet of our new french forward, having both Ozil and Mahrez creating chances for him will be incredible.
Adding the Algerian does raise a few questions though. Firstly, what will be our formation? If we play with 3 at the back, putting Ozil and Mahrez behind him means moving Alexis to the wing back position, where we already added Kolasinac, or we move him on the right and then what for the Ox?
If we move back to the 4-2-3-1, than Mahrez obviously goes on the right hand side, Alexis on the left, Ozil in the middle and again The Ox will struggle. And we still do have Walcott. We also have Danny Welbeck who could play on the wing and we’re left with Giroud might be sold if your read the papers.
But the addition of Mahrez may not occur because we are unwilling to match the 50 million pounds Leicester want for him and I agree on this one. Mahrez has so far been a one season wonder and with the amount of players we have and the price tag we might not opt in for him.
The question is do we want him and who we’d get rid of in his place? I personally want him. We’ve put too much faith in Walcott too many times and it hasn’t worked. It’s time we try something new! I’d try 40 million in total with add-ons to try and get him. And it’s still a pretty high price, but sometimes you just have to pay up. With modern TV and commercial deals, prices have become too big, but I think we can afford one more expensive addition.
I must admit, that I like the fact that we’re so far doing the incoming business first. I’d like to get all the players we want, than see who we’ll find surplus to requirements and let them go. Gibbs, Giroud, Walcott and Wilshere are my prime candidates to leave.
Lastly I still wish for a new CM to partner Xhaka. I don’t trust Ramsey for the same reasons as Walcott, but if we get Mahrez I’d be pretty happy with the business this summer.
Konstantin