If all the players linked with Arsenal in recent days end up at the Gunners next season, then they will have quite a team. Dare I say, they could even become the ‘real deal’ and a team capable of claiming the prize they so crave.
Because, for all their undoubted Premier League progress last term, at no point did I think they were ready to be crowned England’s top team.
Yes, if they could have maintained the consistency they displayed in the first half of the campaign, they may have been there or thereabouts. But I suspected their best chance of success would be because fixture congestion or a spate of injuries affected Manchester City – which, of course, didn’t materialise.
Yet if the likes of Kai Havertz – all but sealed – Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber end up in North London next term, Arsenal will be significantly stronger.
What’s more, Gabriel Jesus should start next season fresh and fit: William Saliba should return – a player whose loss to injury some pinpointed as the turning point in their league form – and the continued development of Bukayo Saka (for club and country) and Eddie Nketiah – a year older and wiser in the top flight – should all make Mikel Arteta’s men that bit more durable.
Arsenal are prepared to make room for new incomings by selling Granit Xhaka, who has an offer from Bayer Leverkusen, and Thomas Partey. There is reported interest in Partey from Saudi Arabia and Juventus, although he would prefer to stay in Europe.
Interestingly Havertz appears to be lined up for a different role for the Gunners than at Chelsea where he spent most of last season playing as number nine.
The exciting German talent actually arrived from Leverkusen for an initial club record fee of £72 million in August 2020 and with the reputation as one of the most exciting young prospects in Europe.
Manager Arteta appears every bit as beguiled by Havertz’s tantalising talent as Chelsea’s then-owner Roman Abramovich and they have moved quickly since formalising their interest once the transfer window officially opened.
Indeed, he is moving from west London to north London in a deal worth around £65million, approximately the same as the initial price Chelsea paid to acquire him three years ago.
There were flashes of his talents at Chelsea, of course, but, in general, he underwhelmed, in large part from being deployed as a central striker, which is not his preferred position.
His Premier League highlights were limited but, as The Athletic noted this week, the legacy he will leave behind at Stamford Bridge is a strange one: scorer of the winning goals in the 2021 Champions League and 2022 Club World Cup finals, but also the frequently underwhelming focal point of a misfiring attack under Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard that sank to historic depths last season.
While we wait to see a potentially exciting vision of his fit within Arteta’s dynamic system, it’s easier to see where Rice would figure should he be snapped up from east London, in this case West Ham.
Arsenal will want to get any deal sewn up with reports that champions City are showing an increased interest.
Rice is said to prefer to stay in London and be close to his family. He also knows that he would be a regular starter at Arsenal, whereas the competition for places at City would be much fiercer.
Either way, he looks set to become the second most expensive Englishman ever after Jack Grealish with the Hammers seemingly wanting at least £90 million.
Then there’s Timber. The 22-year-old Dutch defender may well have ended up at Manchester United last summer but wanted guaranteed football with the World Cup on the horizon.
The outlook is very different now with Qatar been and gone and Ajax coming off the back of a miserable campaign.
Certainly he, or RB Leipzig’s Mo Simakan, another player linked with a move to North London, would reinforce a backline that struggled in April during Saliba’s absence, conceding 11 goals in four games against Liverpool, West Ham, Southampton and City as the team fell away in the title race.
In January, I remember covering Arsenal’s last-gasp victory over Man Utd and, while I was impressed, thought the reaction at full-time, rather than a combination of elation and relief, was so over the top it suggested they had taken a giant leap towards the title. At that point, the campaign was barely halfway.
My view held sway.
If they sign the three aforementioned, however, my view will change and their SBOTOP Premier League betting odds will look a lot more attractive.
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