Alternate take on what Arsenal should do if they miss out on Suarez - Part 1

Jefferson Farfan(No.10)

Wingers

Arsenal have offloaded quite a few players this Transfer window. Despite all of them being mere fringe players, with the arguable exception of Gervinho, Arsenal have to fill the void left by these players. An important area that needs to be reinforcements is the winger position. Especially on the left wing. Truth be told Theo Walcott is the only high quality winger Arsenal have. Podolski for all his talent isn’t an out and out left winger. Neither is Santi Cazorla.

With Theo wanting to play down the centre it’s important Arsenal need to buy and buy big players to play on the flanks. Some might argue that Arsenal have the talents of Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Serge Gnabry waiting in the wings but frankly speaking neither of them are league winner quality players as of now.

Hence it’s vital that Arsenal need to buy quality players there. A quick study of the situation, and 3 names come to mind. Eduardo Salvio of Benfica, Alexis Sanchez of Barcelona and Jefferson Farfan of Schalke. All fast, all good dribblers and decent crossers. A quick comparison turns up one very evident winner; Farfan.

Despite not being one of the biggest names in world football, no one can doubt his undeniable talent. His skill set is what makes him the clear favourite. All three are great dribblers, show good movement and pass impressively but only Farfan can be regarded as a good finisher, which is a vital skill at Arsenal as they need their goals to come from all around the pitch rather than from one player playing up front.

Another important detail is that he’s at his prime, aged 29, the others below 25, so he can be expected to be at his best for 2 seasons. Plus he has good experience playing in the UCL (Sanchez wasn’t exactly ‘playing’ in the UCL). Money wise Sanchez earns around £5 million a year, Salvio around £1 million a year and Farfan is expected to earn somewhere in between. Transfers would cost around £20 million each for Salvio and Sanchez while Farfan would cost around £15 million.

Another back up for these players would be Stewart Downing of Liverpool. Despite his torrid first season at Liverpool he’s reclaimed himself last season and is finally looking like the player they sent all that money on. It’s pretty evident Liverpool won’t look to do anymore business with Arsenal after the Suarez saga, but you never know what’s going to happen.

My Opinion: Farfan > Sanchez > Salvio > Downing.

Luiz Gustavo

Centre Defensive Midfielder

Maxime Gonalons, Lars Bender, Ilkay Gundogan, Marouaine Fellaini, Luis Gustavo. Quite a formidable list of players to be linked to. Yet Arsenal haven’t sealed a deal for any of these players.

Arsenal have been playing, and will continue to play a 4-2-3-1 formation. The 2 holding midfielders play varied roles. One of them is the more mobile player with good passing and dribbling skill, or the traditional CM. To play this position Arsenal have Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Mikel Arteta, who played the traditional CDM position since Song’s departure. Arteta despite being a brilliant player is no CDM. And for this position Arsenal have plenty of good players, but for the CDM position Arsenal don’t have enough quality players. Coquellin is a flop, and Diaby has been super glued to the treatment table for years now. Arsenal need to buy someone from the list above. Let’s take a look at them.

Given the squad Arsenal don’t need Ilkay Gundogan. He’s arguably the best player in the list but you don’t expect him to do anything Arteta doesn’t do. Fellaini saga seems to have hit a roadblock after failing to agree on personal terms and after Everton asking for a swap deal involving Ramsey. That definitely isn’t happening considering how well Ramsey played since Christmas. He’s finally the player everyone expected him to be before the horrific injury. Gonalons interest seems to have cooled for a while. So we’re left with Bender and Gustavo.

Both are great tacklers and have a very high defensive work rate. Bender would have been a definite buy if not for the £20 million Leverkusen want for him. Gustavo is expected to cost around £10 million. Plus his transfer seems to be easier as he’s way down the pecking order at Bayern who have too many CMs. As a player even though Bender is better Gustavo seems to be a better buy considering less than a monthis remaining till the window closes.

My opinion : Gustavo > Bender >> Gonalons