Should Arsenal snap up Brazilian play maker Diego?

Diego

Given he will be a free agent next summer, interest is mounting in Wolfsburg attacking midfielder Diego. According to the player himself, English Premier League clubs are especially keen. “I know there is interest from Premier League clubs. I have heard Arsenal is one of them,” the Brazilian attacking midfielder is reported to have said, according to Sky Sports. But would the talented 28-year-old Brazilian prove as hugely successful a capture as club record signing Mesut Ozil?

Diego certainly thinks so.

“It would be the ideal destination for me because their style suits my characteristics perfectly,” he said. “Of course I would say yes to Arsenal.”

But should Arsene Wenger say yes to Diego?

His performances in recent seasons, including this one, as he is currently the club’s second-best player and the Bundesliga’s fifth-best midfielder according to Squawka’s Performance Score rating, earning 427 points, suggest that he would be worth snapping up. But with Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil, and Theo Walcott considered sure starters behind lone striker Olivier Giroud, and Jack Wilshere also pushing for a place there given his impressive performances of late, how necessary a signing is Diego?

Wenger acknowledged something about his Arsenal side heading into the big game versus Southampton, which they won 2-0 at The Emirates: “We have a lot of players who like to come to the ball,” he said.

Diego is just that type of player. He likes roaming the field in order to get on the ball to make things happen for his side. The 66 chances he created last season was by far the most for his club, while the 30 he has created thus far this season is also a club-high tally.

Averaging an amazing 5.3 take-ons per game so far this season, completing 63 overall, which is the second-highest tally in the Bundesliga, he likes to take on opponents in order to work an opening to play his killer passes or make an effort at goal, which he loves to do from long range. Twelve of his 21 shots so far this season (57.1%) have come from outside the penalty box. All these things considered, it’s no wonder he is the league’s most fouled player (47 times).

So, without a doubt, Diego is a fine playmaker. But from what Wenger said, Arsenal are well stocked in that area already, meaning that the Brazilian would prove one cook too many in Arsenal’s kitchen. Instead, the Frenchman, in the same aforementioned press conference, went on to point to the significance of having another type of player in his team: “To have one or two [players] who go behind and create space [is a big benefit],” he continued.

Saying that, he was very happy following Walcott’s return to the fold following surgery on an abdominal injury. “He gives us qualities that other players haven’t got,” he added. “It gives us options to score, to go behind [defenders] to create space in the middle.”

Direct players in Arsenal’s squad like Walcott as well as Lukas Podolski add a different–and one may even say needed–dimension to an Arsenal attack that lacks penetration at times. They give the architects like Cazorla and Ozil decent forward passing options with the kinds of darting runs that they make in behind. That in mind, should Wenger want to sign another midfielder, it should be one with this style of play.

So, while Diego is right in saying he would fit in with the Gunners’ style of play, he would not have an easy time fitting into the lineup, given there are a number of players similar to him at the club–and of high quality too. He spoke of his willingness to come to England to play, saying that it is “a very attractive option at the peak of his career,” but he would be wise to set his sights on another club. Talented though he is, the truth is that Arsenal don’t need him.