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Unai Emery’s first term as Arsenal manager is over and it’s left us with much to ponder, namely how the Spaniard is going to utilise the summer transfer window to further tweak the team to his liking despite a limited budget of £40m.
Provided that there are no high-profile exits, Emery and his scouting team are going to have their work cut out finding a player who won’t just slot seamlessly into the side but also make an improvement where necessary. And if there’s one area in need of addressing most, it’s the lack of a top dribbler to carry the ball up the pitch.
What are Arsenal missing?
In Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, the Gunners have the firepower to knock out any team in the top flight, but the pair are crying out for a classy winger who can carve a chance out of nowhere by beating one or two men with ease and whipping passes into the front-men, or using his dribbling ability to draw defenders away and create space in dangerous areas.
Wingers are usually the most prolific dribblers in any team anyway, but the fact Emery spent much of last season using wing-backs rather than wide-men, fielding formations requiring them on 13 occasions in the Premier League alone, further highlights the areas where Arsenal are desperately lacking right now.
But it’s also a concern throughout the whole team; the Emirates Stadium outfit ranked 12th for dribbles completed per Premier League game last season with 8 and were the worst of the top-six in that department – Chelsea and Manchester City topped the standings with 11.8 and 11.5, respectively – according to WhoScored.
Current options out wide include Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but they completed just 2.1 dribbles per game between them on average with the Nigerian international ranking joint-highest throughout the squad on 1.3.
When you look at the stats in per 90-minute metrics, due to the fact over a third of Iwobi’s Premier League appearances last season were as a substitute, the situation does improve slightly – 2.1 successful dribbles produced. But when compared to other Premier League players (to have played more than ten times) by the same parameters, that would only seal him a place in the division’s top 25 dribblers.
Clearly, it’s an asset missing from Unai Emery’s armoury. So who should Arsenal consider signing in the coming months to add a different dimension to their attack?
Player Profile: Who fits the bill?
The north Londoners would be a different beast with a pacy wide-man, whose dribbling ability can stretch a defence and open up gaps for the Gunners’ big-hitting forwards to get in behind. Iwobi has the technique and footwork but he is wasteful when opportunities arise and lacks truly scintillating speed. Arsenal need someone who can combine dribbling ability with pace and ideally a killer pass – it’s frightening to think how many goals Aubameyang and Lacazette could score supported by a winger who can take two defenders out the game on a regular basis. So who fits the bill?
Yannick Carrasco: The former Atletico Madrid man has already been linked with a switch to the Emirates Stadium, with Dalian Yifang reportedly demanding £25m for his services this summer. Carrasco completed an impressive 3.6 dribbles per game in the 2018 Chinese Super League, while also chalking up seven goals and five assists in 25 appearances. The 25-year-old still has plenty to give for a top club and he could be a shrewd signing at the reported price.
Allan Saint-Maximin: The French flyer completed a whopping 4.2 dribbles per game for Nice in Ligue 1 last season, while his six goals, three assists and 1.7 key passes per game also indicate that there’s usually an end product there as well. At just 22 years old, the speedster is an exciting prospect. He’s been linked with Newcastle, Everton and Crystal Palace this summer, so it certainly looks like a winnable transfer race for the Gunners should they throw their red and white hat in the ring.
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Wilfried Zaha: There’s next to no chance of Arsenal bringing the electric Ivorian to north London if they don’t sell a few players themselves, with Crystal Palace having reportedly slapped an £80m price tag on their star man’s head. There’s little doubt, though, that the 26-year-old would address a need for Arsenal, having averaged 3.4 dribbles per game in the Premier League in 2018/19 and enjoyed his best goalscoring campaign in red and blue, with 10 goals to his name.