Arsenal are still interested in signing former summer target, Mario Lemina, who ended up moving to Southampton for €17m last year, but Liverpool are now also reportedly chasing the midfielder.
2Who is Mario Lemina?
The 24-year-old joined Juventus from Marseille in 2015 but struggled to break into the first team or become a regular starter for the Italian champions.
He started his youth career at FC Lorient but was soon sold to Marseille for €4m, and Juventus showned great interest in the player, bringing him on loan before eventually signing him for €9.8 million.
Lemina made 29 appearances across all competitions for Juventus last season, scoring one goal and grabbing one assist. He has one goal this season in 21 league appearances for the Saints.
Due to the very limited amount of game-time failed to make any significant impact in Italy.
The Gabon midfielder has plenty of physical strength and stamina and covers plenty of ground during a match.
He is adapted to play in multiple midfield positions although many think he is at his best when played as a box-to-box midfielder. Southampton, however, have been utilising him well as a defensive midfielder this season and you don’t need to be a genius to work out why Arsenal need a player like this.
One of Lemina’s main strengths is holding the ball and taking on his opponents while going forward with it. He had a 63% successful take on rate per-game last season but has increased that number to an incredible 90.91% (50 from 55) this season in the Premier League. He doesn’t give up possession easily.
His defensive work is also significantly better than his offensive play and Lemina often makes the job easier for his defenders by applying pressure and attacking the opposition’s players.
He does of course, comes with some weaknesses.
Lemina can often be quite selfish and try to make his way by dribbling or taking a shot himself rather than passing the ball.
For a central midfielder, Lemina was very poor in aerial duels while at Juventus, winning only 13.33%. When we looked at him over the summer, we mentioned that he should consider putting extra work into developing this area of his game and he certainly seems to have done that. His success rate this season is 67.65%.
Standing just over 6ft tall, he is now using his height to make himself count in aerial duels.
He could also make himself count at Arsenal.
This article was written by Dan Critchlow and Nikola Banicek and was edited by Lee Hurley. All stats via Transfermarkt and Squawka.