Is Wilfred Ndidi a better option to what we already have at Arsenal? by Lagos Gooner
Good day Gooners. Wilfred Ndidi, the Nigerian international who plays as a defensive midfielder for Leicester has been one player whose name has been coming up recently whenever Arsenal transfer plans are discussed. We have lots of midfielders at Arsenal; we also have good midfielders in the junior team set up. This however, has not stopped the press from linking Ndidi to Arsenal. Is Ndidi a better option to what we have currently at Arsenal?
Just this morning, while reading the latest Arsenal rumours on the net, I came across a story talking about how a former England international believes Ndidi is a better option to the midfielders Arsenal have in the club at the moment, especially Lucas Torreira! According the mirror.co.uk, former England international, Gabriel Agbonlahor believes Ndidi is a better player compared to what we have at Arsenal.
“I still don’t think he’s the player who is going to take Arsenal to that next step,” Agbonlahor said of Torreira, speaking to Stadium Astro.
“I think even Arteta will look at him and think ‘he can do a job now’ but maybe when the summer comes he might be looking for someone with more legs, someone better.
“I think he is [good] for now but it’s because probably Arteta can’t go out and buy players in January, he might have to wait until the summer.
“So for the players he’s got available in that squad, I think Torreira’s the best option he’s got at the moment.”
When asked about the prospect of Arsenal signing Ndidi, the mirror reports Agbonlahor as saying “Yeah, I think the way he’s been playing for Leicester, he’s got the legs in midfield, he can play the ball forward as well, he can win the ball back. But Leicester is doing better than Arsenal at the moment so they’re not going to sell their players.”
Wilfred Ndidi is a very good player, but then we have Lucas Torreira who is equally a good player. The only thing limiting Lucas from taking control of Arsenal’s midfield is injury! If Lucas can be fit enough to play many games, he will definitely be a beast in the middle. Arsenal’s instability has also not helped Lucas and other players in the team, career development wise. Wilfred Ndidi would be welcome to Arsenal if he comes, but I don’t really see him as an improvement on Lucas, I see him as a different flavour of a defensive midfielder.
We are Arsenal and we are proud.
Sylvester Kwentua
Second time this topic appears.
Our main issue is the all defense…
We desperately need this player.
We may have a lot of midfielder but we have almost no protective midfielders.
Xhaka is arguably our least defensive minded player in the entire squad (hes about 30 seconds late into every challenge), Guendozi is box-to-box. That means our only defensive midfield options are Torreira, Elneny (whos on loan) and Luiz (playing out of position). Ozil and Ceballos are attacking only.
We need at least two good players for every position.
He’s good but he is too expensive and you just explained the protective midfielders we have
no, he is not.
What a crap article torriera has been playing well and is by far our best dm ,who the hell is agbonlahor to tell us he’s no good
Justarsenal.com is clearly running out of content to write.
What a nonsense article.
Why on earth is it nonsense? If you don’t want to discuss it why even write anything! Nonsense comment….
You put something up and we Express our views that’s what happens on forums,if you can’t take criticism don’t
write anything
Big Red Herring. It’s January. We are halfway through the month and even the Spuds have got a player. It’s said that Sanllehi was seen in the Seven Sisters Road Poundland looking for a cheap deal. At this moment of time my heart goes out to Arteta. He could be a great manager, but he will be ground down to nothing. The owners and managers and board of this club are a bunch of clowns and we play mirroring their incapabilities. Our clowns want loan players….it seems old ones. We have Venkateshambles and Sanhelli who pretend to know what they are doing. The Kroenke’s whose greed and use of Arsenal as a ‘Portfolio’ club is blatantly obvious. I pray for Arteta but once again ‘you can’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse’…not even Arteta can. Best to do what I do….pray.
lol
@Sean Williams
Realness…
Yes, they are of different types of DMs
Ndidi is more suited to be a lone CDM in 4-3-3 due to his aerial ability. Similar to Senna, Fabinho, Casemiro, Busquets and Fernandinho, who like to sit in front of two CBs
Whereas Torreira is good as a right DM in a double-pivot formation such as 4-2-3-1/ 3-4-1-2. Similar to Kante whose playing style is mobile DM
He plays in a double pivot for Nigeria
Not every lone CDM needs aerial ability,torreira can play that role but should learn to use his body more cleverly.
And even frenkie de jong is a mobile DM but he can be trusted as a lone CDM.He is a very good replacement for busquets and he is not that tall
Brilliant analysis👌my take too
@gotanidea.
Get matic from manu 2 play along torriera
He is not available , busy in his club fighting for top4!
Seri is a great option, he combines & Torreira -Xhaka in one player, more technical, scoring lots of goals and providing more assist.
Available for 15M, a bargain from Fulham he is on loan in Turkey!
We can get 70M from both players who are in demand now, as Kolas 20M and Mustafi wanted, 10M.
Buy Koulibaly 80 & Kurzawa 10M, back up for Bellerin. Meunier 10M! Break even! Put 30M, snatch rabiot from Juve while we can, or get him on loan.
Bellerin Koulibaly Luiz Kurzawa
Seri Rabiot
Ozil
Pepe Laca Auba
This is team we could already be due to Napoli who wants Torreira & Kolas, and sell Koulibaly! Others are all available for sale…
Kroenke is cheap, greedy, we know it all; precisly why Arteta must adapt, react fast, sell in order to buy. Look at vital needs; a top CB first! As Reds did, ending defensive issue!
Arteta has no money but can be smart!
Seri can play as a deep-lying playmaker like Cazorla and he can also play as no 10
He almost moved to Barcelona due to his technical skills, but he is not as combative as Xhaka and Torreira
He played with Chambers as lone CDM behind him and failed at Fulham, but I bet he can do better in Arteta’s system. Only get him if we still need to play with no 10
No matter how technically good a CM is if you are not combative in EPL you may not last in the league. With Carzola’s technical ability, he suffered a lot physically and was eventually sidelined due to injury.
We need player in the mould of Alex Song.
Torreira is just fine enough for us. Louis can fill up the DM position if and when required. Arsenal should be looking to sign Dunk from Brighton, either on loan or purchase. The guy is tall, has aerial ability and a wide range of passes. He will be a solid defender and Louis can move on the DM position along with Torreira when required.
Players at Leicester aren’t going anywhere except to Europe in the late summer of 2020. Is he better than our’s? Yes, and that is not a dig at Torreira – Ndidi can do more and has height. I would take them both if we are having fantasy discussions!
Why on earth would he leave Leicester for Arsenal?! He has champions league to look forward to next year! Time to get real…
The only things Ndidi has over our Lucas are: one, his size makes it easier for other players to overpower him; two, the epl referees permit opposition players to kick him to injure him with little or no penalty.
Nonetheless, Ndidi is not coming here. But if he comes, it’s a welcome development. He will only complement Lucas and not supplant him.
I believe you meant he’s size makes it easier for him to empower other opposition players.
I don’t understand @Gily..
Sorry for confusing you. I meant Lucas’ small size empowers others to manhandle him easily. Am I clearer now?
Another waste of a post, only the deluded amongst us would think we would spend what £40M plus on a player when it is plain to see we dont have the finances and are only looking possibly at borrowing players.
In my opinion Ndidi is one of the top three defensive midfielders in the Premier League and would represent an upgrade on Torreria.However the prospect of Arsenal recruiting him in this transfer window is a complete non starter and like others who use this site I see little point in discussing possible acquisitions unless there is a real prospect of turning hope into reality.Leicester City will demand a huge premium for someone who is arguably the most important member of their squad.
Strange Topic Admin.
Ndidi is great and so is Torreria, a more apt discussion would be for buying him in addition to keeping Torreria and sending Guendouzi back to the U23 side to enable him to learn how to do the basics in the english league.
It’s not fair you guys never talk about Guendouzi when he is effectively doing his apprenticehip in our first team!
Whenever Guendouzi comes on our result deteriorates.