All Arsenal fans have been expecting an emergency midfielder to be secured early in the January transfer window, considering that we let AMN go to Roma at the same time as Elneny and Partey went to AFCON.
It looked like the Brazilian Arthur Melo was our favourite option to arrive from Juventus, but the negotiations seem to be dragging on, with reports saying that Allegri will not sanction the move until he can get a replacement.
Now Fabrizio Romano has revealed that although Arsenal are still very keen on Arthur’s arrival, there is still unlikely to be any progress in the coming week, as he tweeted:
To be honest, I can’t really see the point of bringing in Melo at the end of the month, as we will have Elneny and Partey back, and Xhaka will return from his latest red card, and Lokonga is still available as backup.
If he is going to come as a replacement for Ainsley, the fact that our right back/midfielder had only started two League games all season doesn’t augur well for his replacement.
Perhaps Arteta just wants to see if he settles in to London life so that he could become a permanent signing in the summer, but I can’t see him being much use in this campaign….