With Arsenal falling behind in the race for Raphinha, questions as to whether the club will look to an alternative have surfaced. It would make sense considering their willingness to move with such intent financially for the position.
football.london has drawn up a list of possible alternatives that Arsenal could look into. However, there is the chance that the club instead seeks to prioritise other positions.
Arsenal are looking to try and secure the signing of Lisandro Martinez from Ajax. A player who would provide competition and quality at left centre-half, left-back and defensive midfield.
READ MORE: Granit Xhaka offered Arsenal escape route as Youri Tielemans arrival to limit opportunities
The Athletic’s Arsenal correspondent James McNicholas was speaking on the Arsecast extra regarding the profile of Raphinha and his impression of how he was perceived. Instead of him being necessarily top of a list of wide players, he believes he’s seen individually as someone who would benefit the club.
“My impression is that it is quite specific. That this is a player that the staff really like for his individual qualities, and it is felt that he is the right guy and that’s why I think Arsenal are going to be prepared to pay a hefty fee to land him,” he said.
“Whether it is the case that they don’t get him that there’s a number two who would immediately step up, I honestly at this point couldn’t say. You would imagine so; I mean if you were looking to add a player like that to the squad. I really don’t know.”
With this in mind, it would make more sense that missing out on Raphinha would push Mikel Arteta and Edu onto their other priorities first. With a reported third bid for Lisandro Martinez having been made, this is perhaps already in motion.
This brings back the profile of Youri Tielemans. Goal reported that Arsenal had ‘cooled’ their interest with the intent of focusing on other targets first. With one of those targets off the table, this could reignite that previous interest to secure the Leicester City player this summer. This would not be out of the ordinary for the club, who appeared to have cooled their interest in Aaron Ramsdale prior to then moving swiftly to bring him in.
The central midfield position is of even greater importance than the wide forward role. Arsenal have only Granit Xhaka as a left-sided central midfield option. The Swiss international has for some time been in need of serious competition and has comfortably occupied the position in Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery and Arsene Wenger’s teams.
Moving into yet another season with him as an undisputed figure would not represent the necessary push to level up the team. Xhaka can still offer plenty of quality, but if the Gunners wish to return to the very top, upgrading on the stalwarts that have been a part of the club’s recent struggles should be a priority.
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