Arsenal’s season had moments of sparkles but mostly a disappointment so far under manager Arsene Wenger and the supporters are fuming over the players’ commitment as well as manager’s determination to deliver. It is still unclear whether Wenger will step down at the end of the campaign, but a mass overhaul is on the cards, especially the defence, that needs to be reconstructed at the earliest.
Arsenal have been pretty direct in the latest transfer windows and repeatedly broke the bank to snap up club-record deals for Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. They have also swapped Alexis Sanchez for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and did not hesitate to splash the cash in order to keep pace with the title rivals.
But the back-line need some quality recruits and the mistakes made by the likes of Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny cost them massively on decisive occasions. The Gunners are reportedly keeping close tabs on Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly, the former Chelsea and Liverpool transfer target, and keen on striking a deal for the Senegalese sensation.
The 26-year-old defender has featured regularly in Maurizio Sarri’s title-challenging Napoli side who were leading the race but have now fallen behind the reigning champions Juventus following a couple of disappointing outcomes. The Light Blues have conceded as low as 19 goals so far in the league, the second lowest of the tournament after the Old Lady, and Koulibaly has featured regularly in the heart of their defensive line.
He is 6 ft 5 in tall, thus offers aerial as well as physical supremacy inside the box which has been a weakness of Mustafi who got bullied by Premier League strikers very often this campaign. He has a great sense of passing and tackling and might be an upgrade to veteran Koscielny too who has been clumsy at times while distributing the ball from the deep defence. Wenger is expected to offload both Mustafi and full-back Bellerin in summer following their persistent underperformance and ready to spend big on proven defensive options.
The North Londoners, currently placed sixth in the Premier League tally, will be required to break the bank once more as Koulibaly is valued at around €70 mil and it will be hard to convince the star unless they earn a backdoor entry in next season’s Champions League by winning the UEFA Europa League competition. Arsenal have a couple of promising centre-backs in their ranks in form of Calum Chambers and Rob Holding, but the English duo are not yet ready to step up and perform at a very top level week in week out.
Per Mertesacker is set to hang up his boots at the end of the campaign and an ageing Koscielny cannot be the solution to their defensive conundrum. They also need to invest sincerely on a defensive midfielder as Granit Xhaka’s replacement who has been a let-down since completing a high-profile move from Borussia Monchengladbach a couple of years back. The success of the backline is hugely depending upon the presence of a proper deep-lying medio in Wenger’s system who will screen the defence, win back possession and carry the ball forward from deep down the midfield. Signing Koulibaly, nevertheless, will be a huge boost for Arsenal, but they need investment in other areas as well.
