Bertrand signing makes sense
According to DailyMail, Arsenal have stepped up the pursuit of Southampton left-back Ryan Bertrand.
The 31-year-old’s current deal at St. Mary comes to an end this summer and Arsenal have now positioned themselves as the frontrunners for his signature.
The rumours of Bertrand’s signing have clearly not gone right with some section of Arsenal fans. While some say, “we are not a retirement home,” others said, “Arsenal are just a lazy club in terms of recruitment.”
These statements seem short-sighted, especially in the current world we are living in. Arsenal are one of the worst hit clubs in England due to the pandemic.
The Gunners have been left counting the cost, with the club’s latest accounts showing a £47.8 million loss. The London club said that was due to “the consequent lockdown and suspension of the 2019/20 football season.”
Regardless of the loses, reports emerged that the owners will back Arteta this summer and are willing to do something “exceptional.” But it is never clever to splash the cash.
Louis Van Gaal’s Manchester United (he was sacked within two years). More recently 2018/19’s Fulham and 2019/20’s Aston Villa are prime examples for it. Both the teams comfortably spent more than 100 million. While the former got relegated, the latter survived the drop on the very last day.
Thus, Arsenal should be clever in the market.
And what is better than signing a player in Ryan Bertrand who is homegrown, experienced and available for free.
According to reports, Arsenal are keen to offload the likes of Ainsley Maitland Niles, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah. If the trio do end up departing, the Red and White will be three short of the homegrown slots.
In the Premier League, the lower bar of HG players have been set at eight. Thus, adding a back-up left-back who fills it, is completely rational.
Moving on with his experience, the Englishman has made 258 appearances in the Premier League for Chelsea, Norwich City and Aston Villa.
He has also played for other English clubs such as Bournemouth, Reading and Nottingham Forest. This is a player, who has been a nomad in England.
He has ‘seen it all and done it.’ The left-back has even made 19 appearances for England.
In other words, Arsenal would have a hard time (or even impossible) in recruiting a player available on a free with such vast experience.
Those funds, which would have been spent on acquiring a player, who would have only played second-fiddle to Tierney, might not have been the best solution.
Thus, signing Bertrand and using the money to bolster other areas of the pitch makes total sense.