Steve Nicol reckons Dries Mertens should choose a move to Chelsea over Arsenal.
The Belgian is in the final year of his current deal with Napoli and it appears that he will move clubs when the season ends as he and Napoli are a long way apart in terms of agreeing on a new deal.
Arsenal has been tracking him since it became clear that he could leave Naples.
Several reports claimed that he would join Arsenal last month but Arsenal moved to solve their defensive problems instead.
Mertens can speak to other teams now and there is a high probability that he has been talking to Arsenal and Chelsea.
However, ESPN pundit Steve Nicol believes that he has a better chance of prolonging his playing career if he joins Chelsea.
The former Liverpool star reckons that Arsenal is already well-stocked in attack and he doesn’t see why Mikel Arteta would bench any of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alex Lacazette or Nicolas Pepe for the Belgian.
“Listen, Dries Mertens would be a good signing for anybody,” Nicol told ESPN FC as quoted by the Express.
“Thirty-two, still flying, still scoring goals, I just don’t think it’s to Arsenal though.
“I don’t see them shifting [Alexandre] Lacazette, they’re certainly not moving [Nicolas] Pepe and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang shouldn’t be going anywhere.
“So that means Mertens would be going there in my opinion not to start.
“I would suggest Chelsea is the place for him.”
I actually watched a video of this conversation yesterday and found Nicol to be a little flippant with his remarks. He clearly feels that Aubamayenag and Lcazette will still be at the club after the summer transfer window. That is far from certain.
Yeah, also doesn’t seem like Steve Nicol understands Arsenal’s predicament well if he acts like Auba and Laca are both staying. Both could very much be going, but I’d put money of Laca staying, and Auba leaving. Arsenal need to find younger options too, so as great as Mertens is, he’s at the end of his career, and will probably be looking for a contract that runs more than two years, which I doubt Arsenal will offer him. Club should keep looking, and shouldn’t be prioritizing a winger over midfielders and defenders.
And why won’t Lacazette in particular be at Arsenal next season? Because of a poor patch? Its because of the system my dear friend. He drops deep to help the midfield and Arteta should work on that. We as journalists should be mindful of what we write because some fans can be fickle minded. To my mind the departing ones should be: Mustafi, Mkhitaryan, Elneny, Ozil (and Chambers on short term loan) only.