Arsenal can transform their squad by signing “their own Van Dijk” this summer
It is no secret that Mikel Arteta and Edu have a massive rebuilding job at the Emirates. The Gunners currently sit at 10th position, ten points behind Chelsea, who occupy the last Champions League spot.
The troops at Arteta’s disposal have somewhat played their part in the team currently lying in mid-table. Hector Bellerin has looked uninventive, Granit Xhaka has been too ponderous on the ball and Mohamed Elneny is not a player to build your team around. The names and the frailties in them are endless.
The Gunners might oversee a great overhaul, given the current squad is not ideal to take the 13-time league champions to the next level. In the end, which player would you be totally sure about that will start the first game of the next season? Bernd Leno, Kieran Tierney, Gabriel, Thomas Partey, Bukayo Saka and Aubameyang, you might say.
The rest of them don’t really look like players who will stay at the Emirates for a long duration of time. The one player that might make Arsenal as one of the most robust teams defensively in England is RB Leipzig’s Ibrahim Konate. Dayot Upamecano, who will join Bayern Munich this summer, and Konate formed a formidable partnership in their time together at the Red Bull Arena.
Both joined the club in the year 2017. Since then, Red Bull Leipzig have boasted one of the meanest defenses in the world. Several clubs were in a fierce race to sign Dayot Upamecano, who settled the air by signing for Germany’s biggest club Bayern Munich.
As a result, the scouts did not look far to find a replacement target. In fact, they only shifted their gaze somewhat slightly to the side after identifying Ibrahima Konate as the ideal man.
The chase for the French 21-year-old is expected to be vehement in the summer. Almost everything is enticing about signing Konate. He has great aerial presence. He is a strong tackler and can also run at a high speed. All that in a 21-year-old is hard to find. Thus, clubs will have to splash the cash if they want to prise away the Leipzig man from Germany.
Arsenal already have some right-sided defenders who are shining abroad on loan. Konstantinos Mavrapanos is garnering attention from a lot of clubs, whereas the Arsenal board are confident that William Saliba has a future. That too in North-London.
Keeping Saliba as a back-up understudy right-sided defender, and partnering Gabriel with Ibrahim Konate can bring instant success at Arsenal. And boy don’t they need it after a prolonged “transition period.”
Yash Bisht
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