The rumours about Arsenal and Thomas Partey have been going on for months, but it’s starting to look like The Gunners don’t have the money to make it happen after a recent report from Sky Sports.
Dani Ceballos is on his way back to The Emirates and it also looks like Lyon star Houssem Aouar could be joining him according to The Mirror, but they really need an experienced head to anchor the midfield and hold everything together.
If they can’t afford Partey then it makes sense to look for alternatives, so this report about Juventus midfield Sami Khedira comes at the perfect time:
Sami #Khedira will leave #Juventus on a free transfer. They are in negotiations to finalize the termination of the contract. #Zenit has shown interest in the German midfielder. #transfers
— Nicolò Schira (@NicoSchira) September 3, 2020
Nicolo Schira can be hit and miss with his reports but it’s clear that Juventus are trying to trim the squad and Khedira isn’t part of Andrea Pirlo’s plans, so there’s enough in this to suggest it’s true, while it also echoes a recent report from The Daily Mail.
Khedira turned 33 earlier this year so fans will worry about his age, but that might not be an awful thing. Khedira is a World Cup winner and a title winner with vast experience so he’s the perfect option for a fairly youthful Arsenal team.
He would happily sit in front of the back four while also keeping the ball moving, while he has the physicality to dominate the midfield and be useful at set pieces.
He probably doesn’t have more than a couple of years left at the top level but that’s enough time for Arsenal to save up some money and find a long term successor.
Sammy Khedira – Fat and Slow, just what Arsenal need?
Sadly, if he had been born in Brazil EDU might have bought him
Pretty much a nothing comment there. On the one hand you sarcastically question if he’s up to Arsenal’s standards. On the other you sarcastically question his birthplace as being the reason he will not be brought into the team.
Spot on.
We need to be realistic about what Arsenal can afford and not chase too many unicorn signings.
Likely we will try and make 110m to finance necessary transfers
Of that 20m is already spoken for with Pepe and Saliba courtesy of Sanlehi deal. Another 10m to service loan for Willian some Mari and Soares money and Ceballos.
That leaves about 80m for transfers.
We have spent 25m for Magalhes.
That leaves a paltry 55m which is why we can either sign Partey or Aouar and at that if they come down on price to say 40-45m for us. More palatable.
We cannot sign both.
However we have options.
No coincidence Coutinho, Szoboslai and Felipe Anderson linked.
They all operate infield left of midfield which balances out Ceballos likely pushed forward on opposite side and Granit will hold at the base as playmaker.
As mentioned with Aoaur (Assuming he is keen to come over without CL and there are no direct other suitors), we will then have to make compromise for DM.
What we really need is someone who can cover Granit.
Experience in Khedira (bearing in mind Javi Martinez and Busquets likely also surplus at their clubs and banega off to Arabia) should be enough for a season.
Particularly with a rather new Cback complement, Arsenal may profit from his know how shielding when considering Mari, Saliba and Magalhes have to gel (Sideshowbob not withstanding)
Alternatively if we should decide on say Felipe Anderson on loan or structured deal, then we can go for Partey.
Another option is going for sub 20m compromise in Coutinho or youthful hopeful Szaboslai and then also compromising on DM with Diawara at about the same price.
Or we can go for Felipe Anderson and 20m on Diawara with money left over to bid for either of Dembele at Lyon (Assuming they aren’t upset with us pulling out of Aouar) or more likely Edouard at Celtic for mid 20m mark.
If say we sell Auba (instead of Bellerin and Laca …with the later’s move to Juve unlikley if Suarez is on offer), then we may have just enough to do Aouar, Khedira and still pull in Edoard to supplement on Laca and Nketiah and eventually replace Laca the following season.
But I should think we should be considering Khedira as a very very useful option proviso it is a loan and not a silly business deal like with Willian on 3 years 220k at 32yrs.
Moving parts. I suspect a lot will be dependent on Barca.
If they move Suarez to Juve, they may add a striker. Either Dembele or maybe Auba. If they move for Auba, it will be difficult not to sell considering his age and how much we can mint off of them.
And I don’t think he will be allergic to a move to a CL club to win things either at this stage of his career.
Home truths.