Lee Bowyer believes Arsenal made a mistake is signing Nicholas Pepe.
Arsenal splashed out £75million to sign Nicholas Pepe from Lille last summer, but Charlton manager, Lee Bowyer believes Arsenal would be a better team now had they spent that money elsewhere.
Despite the addition of Pepe, Arsenal has struggled to catch the leading teams this season and their major problem seems to be their defence.
Bowyer insists that they should have spent that money on a world-class defender much like what Manchester United did when they signed Harry Maguire.
“Defensively they are frail, they concede too many goals. Their centre-halves have been a problem for years,” Bowyer said on Sky Sports.
“It’s not just been this season, it’s been for a while now, but they would rather spend £75million on a winger than a centre-back.
“Maguire would have been perfect for them, why didn’t they get him?”
Arsenal signed a defender over the summer and an experienced one at that when they signed Chelsea centre back David Luiz for £8million.
The Brazilian has done little to help and his partnership with Sokratis is the worst out of the top six, probably top ten Premier League sides.
Rob Holding has been working his way back to fitness after a long injury layoff and Calum Chambers is in with a shout but in all honesty, they are not what you would call elite defenders.
I cannot agree with Bowyer about Pepe but he is not wrong when he says Arsenal should have bought a top-class defender.