It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the current Arsenal squad needs a total rebuild this summer. Extreme inconsistencies and a poor squad balance are some of the reasons why Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side is placed 10th in the league as of writing this. As of right now it’s Mikel that’s in charge of carrying out this ambitious rebuild and even though many passionate Arsenal fans disagree, I think Mikel is just our man to take this club back to where it belongs.
Mikel is also well-backed by the board, which should come in handy this summer. Although things could change, I do think Mikel will still be in charge of the club through the summer transfer window and beyond. So how could this rebuild go? I’ve collected my thoughts on the players that we need to part ways with, the players we need to bring in as well as the players that we already have.
Defence
Before discussing our backline, let’s have a quick word about the goalkeeper situation. Bernd Leno is undoubtedly Arsenals nr 1 and although his form has dropped in recent weeks, we all know what a class keeper he can be, and I have no doubts that he will find his form of past soon enough. In the summer of 2020, the board and Edu brought in Runar Alex Runarsson from Dijon for around 1,5 million pounds. After a shaky Europa League group stage and an absolutely horrific performance against Manchester City in the EFL League Cup semi-final in December, it was clear that Runar wasn’t good enough to be a backup keeper to Bernd.
Matt Ryan was therefore brought in on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion and has since then put in a few good performances, namely against Aston Villa at Villa Park while Bernd served his one-match suspension after handling the ball outside of the box in a 2-1 robbery at the Molineux Stadium in January 2021. As things are looking, there is absolutely no way Runar Alex Runarsson will regain his place as nr 2 at Arsenal for next season. We, therefore, need to either extend Matt Ryan’s loan from Brighton or bring in someone similar. The Aussie is a lifetime Gunners fan and is a good option for that nr 2 spot.
The back-line situation is so complicated yet straightforward at the same time. The first person heading out the door from London Colney should be Hector Bellerin. The Spaniard just hasn’t found his form since coming back from his last injury and it’s hard to see a way for him to carry on at the club next season. Strong interest from both PSG and Barcelona has been reported and we should undoubtedly listen to these offers. A fee of around 30-40 million pounds is expected for Hector and would be a great bit of business for Arsenal.
Our main target for replacing Hector should be Achraf Hakimi of Inter Milan. Inter has reportedly put a price tag of around 50 million pounds on the Moroccan and an investment of 10 million on top of Hector is a small price to pay for a player of Hakimi’s quality. There are doubts about him fitting into a classic back-4 with the Moroccan mostly playing as a wing-back at Dortmund and Inter, however, I trust Edu and Mikel thinking Achraf’s profile through before stepping up interest. His offensive ability is unquestionable, and I think he could fit in perfectly on the right-hand side as that overlapping, always available full-back that Nicolas Pepé asks for.
We do however need a backup right-back and having made Cedric Soares loan from Southampton permanent in the summer of 2020, I see no issues giving him the nod to carry on as a backup right-back for next season. Calum Chambers has at the time of writing just come back from a tough injury and the Englishman put in a stunning performance from right-back in Arsenals 3-3 comeback against West Ham at the London Stadium in March. He showed a real desire to perform and I, therefore, think he should be kept for next season, possibly as a backup center-half or full-back.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles had a banging start to the season, slotting right into Mikel’s 3-4-3 line-up and performed so well in our FA-Cup run as well as pre-season that he got to stay. We have since then moved on from that back-three and with that fell Ainsley. He says he wants to play in midfield, something that he now gets to do at West Bromwich Albion but there are serious doubts about his ball retention which also rules him out of that position. If he performs well enough at West Brom and they want him on a permanent deal of around 15-20 million pounds, then take him.
Having cleared up a messy centre-back situation in January, Mikel is now left with a few options. Gabriel Magalhaes is our main man this season, getting off to a flying start in London. He is our man for the future and is a given name in the line-up for next season.
As of now, David Luiz, Rob Holding, and Pablo Mari are available to partner Gabriel at centre-back. I don’t see any of them as our long-term answer, however. Instead, we should make an effort to make loaned-out Nice defender William Saliba comfortable next to Gabriel.
It’s unknown why Mikel didn’t give William any chances before loaning him out in January but after winning Nice’s player of the month award within his first month at the club as well as showing impressive statistics, I think it’s time to bring him into the team for real.
Pablo Mari has shown that he can be an important part of our defence when needed, pocketing Jamie Vardy in our 3-1 win over Leicester at the King Power Stadium, although I still don’t think he could start over Saliba next season. Rob Holding was a great performer in the team a few months ago but he has since signed a long-term deal with the club and with it, his great form disappeared. Mikel seems to like him however and having just signed a new deal he is unlikely to leave in the summer.
David Luiz this season has shown a sign of experience behind all of the mistakes from last season and is now proving to be more of a valuable asset for Mikel. He has however picked up a tough injury that many fears will make him unavailable for the rest of the season. Whether David fully recovers or not is yet to see but many players, including youngster Bukayo Saka, has talked about what an important figure David is in the dressing room. I therefore think we should consider giving him a new, lower-wage deal solely for keeping him around in the dressing room.
Figuring out our starting left-back for next season doesn’t take a genius. Kieran Tierney has been outstanding at left-back for the past season and of course, he will be given the nod to continue doing that next season. We do however need a backup left-back to cover in for Kieran next season if neither Cedric nor Calum can show that they can do a good enough job at left-back to be a cover for next season. Given our limited funds for this specific position, this needs some good business, just like how we brought in Cedric last January.
Midfield
Although Thomas Partey’s injuries have kept him from showing consistent class this season, it doesn’t take a genius to see that he is a Rolls-Royce of a footballer. He should be the first name in that midfield next season, without a doubt. Given that we continue playing a 4-2-3-1 next season, we do however need to bring in another player of Partey’s profile to play alongside him.
There might be ways around this but bringing in another midfielder should still be of our highest priority. Granit Xhaka shows every week why he is one of our most important parts of the team, but I simply don’t see him being the man to take us forward. It seems that Mikel and Edu already have a list of players they will consider bringing in this summer and that’s good because I don’t have any suggestions.
What I am sure of though is that Dani Ceballos needs to get on a plane right back to Madrid as soon as possible. The Spaniard just isn’t that good of a football player and his dream of one day starting for Real Madrid is enough to make you laugh. Just not anywhere near good enough and should not be considered for another loan or even a permanent deal. Mohamed Elneny however is a player I’d try to keep for next year. He has proven that he can be a good squad player, especially if we qualify for Europe.
Lucas Torreira has had a difficult year, not quite slotting into Diego Simeone’s Atletico midfield and the death of his mother has left him wanting to go back to Boca Juniors. I think we should try to make that happen, even if Boca offers us a few million less than Italian teams for example. A fee of around 10-15 million for Lucas should get accepted by the board.
Similarly, I’m having a tough time seeing Matteo Guendouzi’s future at Arsenal. Guendouzi was dropped for disciplinary reasons after our 2-1 loss at the Amex Stadium last summer and therefore went out on loan to Hertha Berlin where he seems to have somewhat picked up the pieces. He could however be a valuable asset to sell, and we could be looking at a transfer fee of over 30 million pounds for the Frenchmen, a deal that I think we should make.
Attack
Our biggest issue this season has undoubtedly been our attack. A lack of creativity combined with a lack of decisiveness in the final third has led to us scoring way fewer goals than expected out of a team like Arsenal. Bringing youngster Emile Smith-Rowe into the line-up as well as signing Norwegian midfielder Martin Ødegaard on a short-term loan has helped things but the issues lay deeper than that.
Pretty much every part of the attack have been underwhelming though so let’s start with the lack of a creative midfielder. When the team was at its worst, Mikel decided to give youngster Emile a chance as a number 10 in the attack. He thrived, leading Arsenal to a comfortable 3-1 win over London rivals Chelsea and has since then been given regular chances, especially with Mikel switching to a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Bringing in Martin in January raised a lot of concern over Emile’s role in the squad, but we have since then seen that playing them both is a major advantage. Mikel, Edu, and the board should absolutely try to keep Martin for next season, either on a loan or preferably on a permanent deal. Arsenal offers Martin something that Real doesn’t, and that is a dominant role in the attack.
You can see how he loves to constantly control our progressive play as well as attack, always asking for the ball and finding clever ways through defences. An absolute star and someone I’d love to see next season. There are, however, alternatives. Should Mikel choose to switch to a 4-3-3 formation, something that he has been hinting at for quite some time, Martin may not be the best player for that formation. I would like to see a 4-3-3 with Emile as the left-sided centre-mid, Thomas Partey as the strong, defensive anchor with Martin as the right-sided mid though that’s still just a dream.
Should Mikel switch formation, a player more like Emiliano Buendia from Norwich City might be a better option. Buendia is more of an #8 rather than a #10 and should slot better into a 4-3-3 than Martin or Emile. Options like Julian Brandt and Julian Draxler do also exist, especially with Draxler being available on a free transfer this summer.
The two wings are important areas that Mikel needs to decide on. Bukayo Saka who originally was a left-winger has now made the right-wing his own due to his outstanding performances there. Many people have already forgotten that he used to play on the left side, but I think we should move him back there, at least to try. He has put up some impressive performances on the left-wing too, notably our 1-0 loss to Manchester City in October.
Bukayo has been one of our best performers this season and that’s why it’s so sad to see reports emerge that Mikel may need to be forced to sell the 19-year-old to raise funds for the rebuild. However things play out, I’d really like to see Nicolas Pepé get a real chance at right-wing. The Ivorian has only started more than one consecutive game three times this season, his longest streak being 4 games. With that sort of inconsistency, it’s impossible to demand much more from Pepé this season.
We could need to cut our losses on our record signing this summer but before then I would like to see Pepé get a consecutive run of games. If Nico plays his 8th consecutive game and still isn’t anywhere near a good enough level then sure, listen to offers for him in the summer. Until then, I refuse to give up on him, insisting that he should get another chance at right-wing next season.
We did see a wing partnership between Nico and Bukayo with Bukayo taking the right-wing and Nico taking the left, which went very well. I still don’t think Pepé is made for the left-wing and would much rather see Bukayo move back there. Willian has recently shown to be a decent backup winger and I’d be okay with seeing him in that same role next season.
Onto our strikers then, shall we? Aubameyang signed a big new deal with the club last summer, a deal that certainly hasn’t panned out the way we expected with the Gabonese striker struggling to find any sort of form this season. Meanwhile, Frenchmen Alexandre Lacazette has thrived at times, showing real reason why he should be our nr 1 striker.
At the same time, young talent Gabriel Martinelli has come back from a long injury and many fans would like to see him get chances at the centre-forward position. Despite all this, we lack a decisive striker that takes his chances. After our humiliating 3-0 loss at home against Liverpool, it’s been made clear that Lacazette and Aubameyang cannot play together. The balance is just wrong, and I never want to see them both on the pitch at the same time.
It’s clear that one of them has to go and I think Lacazette might be the one that has to leave. Looking past Aubameyang’s current form, he is our captain and has at times carried this club with his goal-scoring. There’s a reason we gave him that new deal last summer and I feel like we need to stick to that. I do have concerns about Aubameyang’s poor hold-up play being an issue with him playing as a number 10 instead of his usual left-wing, but I think we just have to stick by him.
Selling Lacazette would also bring in some notable funds, perhaps going towards a new striker. Odsonne Edouard of Celtic is rumored to sign for Arsenal in the summer, but I still think he is too young for that mission. I’d much rather sign someone older and more experienced or give those chances to Gabi.
Conclusion
However this goes, I have full trust in Mikel driving this club back to the top. He has now been promoted to Manager of Arsenal Football Club, something that neither Unai Emery nor Freddie Ljungberg managed. Hopefully, his larger influence on transfers should be a good asset to us in the summer and it should hopefully help Mikel’s plans come to life.
Both the board and Mikel claim that they have full trust in him and even the Kroenke’s have shown signs of investment this summer after putting in their first pounds in over five years into the club to help pay Thomas Partey’s release clause. It’s promising to see that both the board and owners back Mikel and that makes me more confident he will keep his job no matter how this league campaign, as well as Europa league run, ends. Trust the process, people.