I and many others completely underestimated how much Arsenal would miss Oleksandr Zinchenko. The debate surrounding the Ukrainian was how vulnerable his defensive deficiencies were making us but in reality, the control he brought to the side was not only a bigger asset but it significantly outweighed the drawback.
Kieran Tierney had seemed like an obvious pick but by half-time he had made just seven passes, completing four of them. Brighton were able to grab control of the possession relatively comfortably and ride their luck with Arsenal’s lack of clinical finishing.
Zinchenko has been involved in so many of Arsenal’s goals, as was evident in just the last two wins against Chelsea and Newcastle. Without his influence in the clash with the Seagulls combined with William Saliba’s continuing absence, the Gunners were without their two most progressive players.
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It is easy to mistake Martin Odegaard for being in the Gunners’ top two in this field, but the Norwegian’s improvement into becoming a goalscoring midfielder has seen both Zinchenko and Saliba overtake him regarding this metric. Mikel Arteta’s system is so heavily reliant on the build-up from the back that taking two key assets out at this present moment is huge.
Arsenal’s focus in the summer is all on closing the gap with Manchester City by reinforcing the squad so that individual absences have as little impact as possible. It is this and yesterday’s reality check against Brighton that has again led the Tierney debate into another twist.
Previously I found myself looking at Tierney as one of the few players of a level who offered first-team level quality outside of Arteta’s best Arsenal eleven. I still see Tierney as a top-quality Premier League player but less so in an Arsenal sense.
Arteta needs a player in his back four who can do everything that Zinchenko brings and simply, maybe bluntly, Tierney just isn’t that. What Tierney is however is a significant financial asset who will arguably command the biggest of any transfer fee for the club this summer.
Newcastle and Aston Villa are reportedly interested in the Scotland international and whilst it is somewhat scary to consider what Tierney might help Newcastle achieve, the Magpies are capable of stumping up a cannot-say-no-to level of money. Arsenal can then look to replace the full-back and provide Zinchenko with a player of similar style and level to grant Arteta further rotational flexibility.
The question is who? On the market, it seems the best and most accomplished option is ironically another Man City player in Joao Cancelo.
He has already proven in the Premier League to be a top right and left-back but this season’s controversy and disappointing loan spell at Bayern Munich have raised questions. At 28 now, turning 29 later this month, any investment would be sizeable and wouldn’t see much return if any.
Arsenal perhaps need to find the ‘next Cancelo’ and that will be a task for sporting director Edu Gaspar and his team of recruitment specialists. They’ve done well with reasonable investments for the likes of Martin Odegaard, Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Aaron Ramsdale and Zinchenko himself, so the hope will be this challenge is a surmountable one.
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