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Arsenal’s defeat to Chelsea in the Europa League final has affected the Gunners in more ways than the fans could imagine. The Gunners have to play in the Europa League next term far away from the glitz and glamour that the Champions League brings. Without Champions League football, the Gunners will have difficulty recruiting big-name players who wish to play in the Champions League.
With insufficient funds and lack of UCL football to lure the top talents, the Gunners have to play smart in the transfer window and recruit players who can propel Arsenal to the greater heights once again. One such player they are scouting is Joachim Anderson, who plays for Sampdoria. Here are the three reasons why Arsenal needs to sign him.
#3 Style of play
In his first season with the Gunners, Unai Emery has set up his side to play out from the back. With more and more sides employing this tactic, the move felt necessary. However, the tactic didn’t work well at Arsenal as Emery didn’t have the right personnel to bring the ball out from the back.
The Gunners' style of play has often looked lethargic with the Gunners unable to reproduce the scintillating style of play, that was a hallmark of the Wenger era.
The ability to distribute the ball quickly and intelligently has become increasingly valuable for defenders in the modern era and that is what the Dane can do. He is an accurate passer and impressed with his ball-playing abilities from the defence last season. Andersen has a passing accuracy of 88.8% as compared to Shkodran Mustafi's 81.9% in the Premier League. This huge difference shows that Andersen might be a more suitable candidate at the back if Emery wants to play from the defence.
With willing runners in front of him such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette at the other end of the pitch, Andersen could provide them with something to run at.
#2 Physicality
At 1.92m, the young centre-back possesses an obvious height advantage over the vast majority of his opponents. As an obvious outlet for set pieces, Andersen adds value to the Arsenal squad at both ends of the pitch. With the exception of Per Mertesacker, the Gunners have been lacking a tall centre-back in their team.
The current centre-backs at Arsenal do not possess the physical attributes that the Sampdoria ace possesses. Pairing Andersen with Sokratis or Rob Holding also adds to the meanness. He will certainly be a good replacement for Laurent Koscielny if the captain decides to leave.
According to WhoScored.com, Andersen averages 1.3 tackles, 1.1 interceptions and 4.5 clearances per game. Arsenal’s defence let the team down last season and Andersen could well prove to be the man that can fix it.
#1 An obvious upgrade
Let’s face it! The Gunners defence has been shambles this season with the experienced personnel giving away the ball in dangerous areas far too often.
Shkodran Mustafi, in particular, has created panic in the Arsenal faithful with his lacklustre and error-prone displays. With no new contract offered, Laurent Koscielny’s Arsenal days seem to be numbered as his contract lasts until 2020. Sokratis is not getting any younger and that Leaves Arsenal with only a handful of options. They are in need of getting some young and reliable defenders in the team. Andersen’s calmness and ball playing abilities puts him above most of the defenders at Arsenal.
And at just 23 years of age, Andersen could well emerge as the defensive stalwart that the Arsenal fans are desperately craving for!
