In a recent interview with Bild (translated and transcripted by Four Four Two), renowned journalist Christian Falk has revealed that Arsenal are ready to move in for Borussia Dortmund playmaker Julian Brandt. Falk said,
“Odegaard is playing quite well, and they would probably like to keep him,”
“But he is definitely too expensive, so they will bring out the old plans from January.
“We have already talked about Julian Brandt from Dortmund and that he is a player that Arsenal would like.
“He will only cost €25m [£21.8m], but of course, it’s a matter of negotiation.”
SauerlandKurier has also made a similar claim stating that the Gunners are preparing an offer to bring him to North London this summer.
Brandt’s Up And Down Season At Dortmund
Brandt is having a season of mixed emotions at Signal Iduna Park after struggling to be consistent with his offensive contributions. The 24-year-old has registered three goals and two assists in 40 matches for the German outfit this term across multiple competitions.
Brandt has failed to be productive with his performances this season as he is only averaging 0.8 shots, 1.0 key passes and 0.7 dribbles per game in the Bundesliga this season. However, he has been excellent when distributing possession in the opposition half, as evidenced by his pass success rate of 85.1% in the German top tier (stats via whoscored).
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Brandt has decent pace in his locker and can make some clever runs with the ball from midfield. He is an excellent dribbler with the ball and has got the vision to cut open the opponent’s defence by playing a killer pass in the final third. However, the German sensation has struggled to be productive in front of the opposition goal, so there are some question marks over whether he would be able to hit the ground running if the Gunners decide to acquire his services this summer.
Brandt is currently not playing his best football, so he can benefit from switching clubs this summer in the hopes of finding his best form in the coming seasons. Arsenal need to add more depth to their squad, so the Dortmund talent could be a good option for them especially if they fail to land Martin Odegaard permanently from Real Madrid this summer.
At 24, Brandt still has a lot of room to grow into a top talent in European football. He is currently good enough to earn regular game time at the Emirates Stadium next season. We can expect him to add some goals and creativity to the Gunners frontline that needs a bit of freshening up ahead of the new season.
