Following a disastrous opening day against West Ham, fans are clamouring for a change in the Arsenal line-up, or at least some added firepower.
As is his habit, manager Arsène Wenger is waiting until the last second to open up the purse strings and throw around some cash with rumours flying about new strikers and midfielders in talks to join the team at Emirates Stadium.
Major summer signing Petr Cech failed to make a great first impression letting two goals slip by the sticks during his debut, but we’re willing to chalk a fair amount of that up to a fluke of first-match jitters. After all, his match with Arsenal was the Czech keeper’s first game with another club after more than ten years with Chelsea and he remains one of the best keepers in the world, until proven otherwise.
Expectations are the highest they’ve been in years for the club. This comes after a strong showing in the 2014-15 season that saw the team net a comfortable UEFA Champion’s League berth with its third-place finish and a record setting 12th FA Cup victory. The experts at Betfair are predicting a strong showing from the Gunners and elaborates more on the team’s chances of taking home its first league title since 2004 in this piece. However, the team will need to make some moves if they want to keep the dream alive and compete against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City.
While Arsenal is infinitely creative when it comes to the midfield, this strategy only works when the team able to control the ball. When they can muscle in and steal possession, the Gunners do great things with passing and playmaking. However, sometimes the center of the pitch at an Arsenal match is leakier than a worn out cheese-cloth. By adding some sorely needed muscle to the midfield to complement, the team’s creative flair should be able to prevent threatening attacks before they happen and provide more time on the ball for its offense. The Telegraph staff reports that the team’s usual midfield talisman, Tomas Rosicky, will be out for up to two months following arthroscopic knee surgery last week so the team can’t add new blood to the midfield fast enough.
If he’s going to assuage supporters, he’s going to have to spend some money and now we hear that Wenger is looking to add some defensive flair to the Gunner’s midfield. The writers at The Guardian report that the team is looking to lay down 22 million pounds for Sevilla’s Grzegorz Krychowiak. The Polish defensive-midfielder quickly made a name for himself upon his 2014 arrival in Spain helping to lead his team to victory in the UEFA Europa League. He was named to the La Liga “Team of the Season” and was the only player from Sevilla to receive the honor.
By keeping someone like Krychowiak back to hold the line, it frees up stars like Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla to take over matches through tight ball control and creative play. Krychowiak would be a perfect move for Arsenal and could definitely have an immediate impact for the club. However, the reluctance of out-of-favour defender Mathieu Flamini to shove off for other pastures could hold up the deal and do a great disservice to the Gunners.
These rumors join gossip that the the team is also in talks to sign Paris St. Germain wonder-striker Edinson Cavani in an effort to further bolster finishing ability of the club. If Wenger manages to snag both Krychowiak and Cavani, it’d be a huge grab that would only serve to make a highly favoured Arsenal even stronger.