The now infamous Gary Neville quotes regarding Arsenal’s lack of a transfer strategy at the start of the last season are looked back on fondly by Arsenal supporters enjoying a giggle. Made worse for Neville and his fellow Manchester United supporters when assessing the current state of his former club.
Arsenal have asserted themselves back amongst the Champions League hopefuls with clear goals aimed higher than just qualification for Europe’s elite competition. United, on the other hand, have muddled through the summer and the start to the new season is frankly a Gunners fan’s dream come true.
After back-to-back wins for Mikel Arteta scoring six goals, Erik ten Hag meanwhile has conceded the same number against Brighton and Brentford in two opening weekend defeats. Now, however, the reaction from the club has seen them reportedly linked with a move for Casemiro of Real Madrid after a move for Juventus' Adrien Rabiot fell apart over salary.
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Having signed Aurelien Tchouameni, Carlo Ancelotti benched the Brazilian for the first game of the La Liga season. According to the Manchester Evening News, United have since approached Los Blancos about taking Casemiro off their hands.
Furthermore, according to The Athletic, United are interested in taking Christian Pulisic on loan from Chelsea. Individually there’s no denying that Casemiro and Pulisic are decent players, the former certainly more so and has been a top-class midfielder for many years.
Yet neither give a supposed rival - I say supposed considering the clear difference between the two club’s realistic season objectives this season - in Arsenal a real cause for concern. A massive investment, with a rumoured cost of £50million according to The Telegraph, for the 30-year-old Casemiro does not make the world of sense.
He improves the position, no doubt, but the same with Raphael Varane, is that the move that sets the tone for an overhaul? Not for me. Pulisic would only arrive on loan. For Chelsea, this seems like a great deal.
Send a player of good quality on loan to a club that are of little threat to you but of an okay level, see them continue to play in the Premier League and either return a better player for you or ready to be sold for a very good price? No brainer.
For United, they could end up getting a player that does well but in turn, inadvertently strengthens a rival. Meanwhile, in North London, Arsenal have invested in young players and are seeing the reward.
Arsenal face Manchester United at the start of September and the expectations on the Gunners to win the match comfortably are an indication of how the two sides have deviated in their paths. The Gunners are progressing, United, however, are enjoyably languishing and acting like they’re unaware of what the next step needs to be.
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