It is believed that Mikel Merino will join Arsenal this summer, a move that the Gunners hope will finally resolve their LCM issues. But have you ever considered what might happen if the Spaniard didn’t join? The player wants to move to the Emirates, but his team, Real Sociedad, is equally eager to keep him.
If Arsenal doesn’t sign Merino, they could face a dilemma; head coach Mikel Arteta might need to reassess their midfield strategy to maximise its potential. While Jorginho and Thomas Partey provide adequate midfield cover, the Italian international’s performance in the pre-season was concerning, and the Ghana international’s propensity for injuries suggests the need for another midfielder.
Could Ben White or Jurrien Timber serve as an alternative midfield option?
Most of these Arsenal players can adapt and thrive wherever the manager puts them. We frequently discuss Oleksandr Zinchenko’s exceptional midfield performance, but we often overlook the midfield roles Ben White at Leeds and Jurrien Timber at Ajax have played. The two, White and Timber, are two of the most technically gifted Gunners; they can do almost anything.
If the Mikel Merino swoop fails and Arteta finds himself in a precarious situation with limited midfield options, wouldn’t you feel secure if he chooses to play White or Timber in midfield while the other player takes the right back position? This could help ease the competition for starting spots in the jam-packed Arsenal defence.
What do you think?
Darren N
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Zinchenko is the really interesting one for me. With so much cover at left back (Calafiori, Tomi, Timber and Kiwior), then Zinchenko in midfield just seems to make sense. He’s a midfielder for pity’s sake. Though if Arteta had any intention of using him there then he already would have done at some point.
Yes I think Calafiori would slot into that position similar to Stones at City.
Or Camavinga at Real Madrid
My thoughts after Arsenal signed Calafiori is that Zinchenko should replace Xhaka at the left sided of the midfield. He can be our new Carzola. It is an option.
We can focus more on Saka’s replacement and Top striker roles
Don’t worry, Arteta will not move him to midfield because he encouraged him in ManC to play as inverted fullback cos of his ability.
100% no in what we are looking for from the Merino signing. Maybe Calafiori and i dont think that is a thing just possible but certainly not this year either way. Zinchenko is not the guy to move into that role, he’s very good at what he actually does for us at lb and there is a reason why when Arteta personally 1 on 1 (publicly documented) coached his change from mid to lb. It prolonged his City career, he’s better doing that there. Do think people forget what Zincenko offers and how we improved over Tierney with the change.
Fail reply was supposed to be a standalone comment
Merino is being brought in an attacking midfielder as I understand it, left side #8 if you like
if Merino does not arrive I don’t see any of defenders making that gigantic leap in skill-set to attacking midfield
i presume you mean one of those names stepping up to defensive midfield, but Merino doesn’t change that but for may be keeping Rice in the more advanced #8 role more often than a more defensive #6
and no Zinc is not good enough to play any of those roles on a regular basis, doing a job is different to PL title winning quality in midfield role
It seems to be the case that all of Edu’s “eggs” may well be in the Merino “basket”. The problem with letting this transfer saga drag on, and on, is that if the basket is dropped for any reason there may not be enough time left to switch to a Plan B (even if there is one).
Let’s just hope that Merino is signed because if he isn’t then questions need to be asked about the handling of Arsenal’s transfers generally (also given their apparent inability to sell anyone, except ESR, so far).
Yet Liverpool have signed nobody and sold only Carvalho and City have signed Savio (at a deflated rate from a sister club confirmed in Januray) whilst selling Alvarez a player they wanted to keep for a good price and 3 academy for less than esr that if 2 were ours sold for their prices (gomez/bellis) there would be multiple threads/comments in uproar for how we’d under sold cheap and pep can’t develop players.
Clearly a lot of questions versus our closest rivals.
100% no in what we are looking for from the Merino signing. Maybe Calafiori and i dont think that is a thing just possible but certainly not this year either way. Zinchenko is not the guy to move into that role, he’s very good at what he actually does for us at lb and there is a reason why when Arteta personally 1 on 1 (publicly documented) coached his change from mid to lb. It prolonged his City career, he’s better doing that there. Do think people forget what Zincenko offers and how we improved over Tierney with the change.