da gbg bet： After the signing of Granit Xhaka was confirmed by Arsenal last week, it seems that the midfield problem that had been lying around for years has been solved.
da leao： Now with the arrival of Xhaka, the attention has turned into central defence. For the 15/16 season, most of the matches Wenger depended on Koscielny-Mertesacker duo at the heart of the defence.
Towards the end of the season, Gabriel had gradually displaced Mertesacker out of the line-up. However, as most fans noticed, Gabriel and Mertesacker have their own flaws and also their advantages as well.
Mertesacker is already 31. He is not getting any faster and is beginning t0 deteriorate. With the arrival of Pep and Mourinho next season, Wenger has to be cautious on whether to stick with Mertesacker or Gabriel, or dip into the market as both the managers are smart enough to expose their lack of pace and weakness in the air.
However, there will be some fans who believe the German still deserves his place as his leadership on the pitch is valuable.
On towards Gabriel, he has been labelled by the fans and media alike as one of the hotheaded players who couldn’t control his emotions on the pitch.
Moreover, his lack of communication skills is a worrying problem despite more than a year Gabriel had settled in North London.
Gabriel and Mertesacker also share one thing in common, their problem with handling strong, pacy attackers. As it has been proved, both defenders have trouble trying to handle attackers with strong aggression and good aerial ability.
Gabriel’s lack of aerial strength is one of the main concerns in his game as he can be punished easily by strikers. In April, Andy Carroll of West Ham scored a hat-trick against the Gunners, all due to Gabriel’s poor positioning and his weakness in the air.
In the league, mistakes like that are easily punished and it may cause clubs their ambitions.
Therefore, Wenger must be smart and start dipping into the market to avoid any catastrophe.
Talks of Arsenal getting a new defender has increased after Wenger’s priorities shifted to solve his defensive problems. In recent days, Napoli’s defender Kalidou Koulibaly has been linked with Arsenal and Chelsea.
Koulibaly has been labelled as an aggressive defender, physically imposing and no-nonsense. The main importance is he’s not as slow as Mertesacker, nor does he commit silly mistakes like Gabriel. He’s also strong in the air, which is something that Mertesacker, Gabriel and even Koscielny lack.
With the 16/17 season approaching, there has been rumours of Ibrahimovic joining United and strikers like Lukaku, Origi, Kane, Costa, Sturridge, Rashford and Aguero will be better and terrorising defences for fun – therefore it is wise to splash the cash on Koulibaly, who seems like the obvious candidate to solve Wenger’s problem in defence.
Koulibaly transfer fee is to be estimated around £25-30m, though Transfermarkt.com value him at just £15m. For £25m, Koulibaly would be a steal, and at the age of 24, his peak years are ahead of him.
Also if Arsenal were to compete with Chelsea for Koulibaly, the Emirates would be a perfect destination because of the lure of Champions League football, something Chelsea won’t have this summer.
In conclusion, Arsenal must act fast for Koulibaly before Napoli raises their valuation or Chelsea get there first…
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