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Arsenal: Barcelona winger linked; Argentine forward wanted; Wenger’s England ambition
Though a new striker is high on Arsenal fans’ wish lists this summer, the club have been consistently linked with a move for a new wide player.
This morning, with Barcelona wide-man Arda Turan in a £23 million swoop. Notably for Arsenal supporters, the Turk has been rather disparaging about Arsenal:
“’In all honesty I used to think, ‘If I play very well I will end up signing for Barca, because my style fits into this team. If I play well, I will end up at Arsenal’.”
These comments are placed into sharp focus, after Turan failed to establish himself in Barcelona’s first XI in his first season at the Nou Camp last term following his £34 million transfer from Atletico Madrid. Indeed, he had an incredibly disappointing Euro 2016 too, even being on the end of booing from his own fans.
Arsene Wenger’s best Arsenal teams possess creative wide-players who contribute a hefty total of goals per season; Marc Overmars, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and for a brief while Samir Nasri.
Alexis Sanchez performs the role of ‘second striker’ from one flank extremely well, and bagged 16 goals in what was below-par season for the Chilean.
Arsenal struggled to find a solution on the other side, however. Theo Walcott has ceased to be classed as a wide player by Arsene Wenger, with the Arsenal manager citing the defensive work rate required to play on the flanks nowadays.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s progress stalled last campaign as he suffered a crisis of confidence, and Joel Campbell is a tidy player but lacks the goal-scoring threat of a top class wide option.
There is clearly scope for an addition to be made here, but whether an ageing and out-of-form Barcelona reject is the man to fill this vacancy remains to be seen.
Elsewhere, it was reported in the Italian sporting press that Internazionale
Alvaro Morata remains above Icardi on Arsenal’s shortlist, but in the absence of elite forwards on the market he could prove a useful stop gap.
Icardi has scored 57 goals in 122 Serie A appearances and at the age of 23 has scope for improvement.
Also, Arsene Wenger gave an when asked about the possibility of taking the England job, telling beIN Sports:
“Could I manage England, why not? I would never rule that out, but I am happy and focused in club football.
“England is my second country. I was absolutely on my knees when England went out against Iceland. I couldn’t believe it.”
Wenger is set to stay at Arsenal for at least the remaining year of his current contract, and it seems as if the FA has moved away from the idea of a caretaker manager and are instead pressing ahead with finding a permanent solution.
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