For years Arsenal have laid low in the transfer market much to the dismay of their supporters – citing financial reasons and the self-imposed austerity measures since they moved from an old-school Highbury to the ultra modern Ashburton Grove, more commonly known as the Emirates Stadium. But in the last three to four years, the London club have come out of their shell to make big name signings – the sort of players they ought to bring in at a club of that stature and significance in English football, which has unsurprisingly translated to success in domestic competitions in the form of back to back FA Cup wins after close to a nine-year trophy drought.
Continuing in that vein, Arsenal made their first signing for close to £30m including add-ons, the Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka from German club Borussia Mönchengladbach in a bid to strengthen their options in the middle of the park – widely seen as a good and much needed move from Arsene Wenger. Although Arsenal have been craving for a midfielder in the mould of a Patrick Viera and ‘may’ have finally found one in Xhaka – their problems in 2015/16 were further forward – in the goal-scoring department. Arsenal, for all their soft centred nature in midfield and a lack of a robust tough tackling defender to play alongside Koscielny patrolling the box, are usually known to have plenty of attacking threat – enough to win games, simply by outscoring the opposition.
They still do, in some ways, but numbers suggest they should have scored more than they eventually did last season in the league – for the sheer volume of chances they created – fourth highest in the league only behind Spurs, Liverpool and Man City. Leicester City, for instance, created the eighth highest number of chances in the league and ended up scoring more than Arsenal did. Even though this may be partly attributed to the different styles of play and a generic willingness to sit back when teams play against the Gunners, this also reeks of Arsenal’s lack of a twenty goal striker in their squad – who can instantly make that tiny difference that would have kept them in contention for the title until the very end of the campaign.
Mahrez will do very little to address that particular issue. Mahrez is not a number 9 and his playing style and a lean frame do not see him fit to lead the line at Arsenal. But adding Mahrez to an already impressive roster of attacking talent will only make Arsenal more fearful in the future and that is exactly what they need to be more successful in the league. When we look at the crucial stats of Riyad Mahrez and some of Arsenal’s midfielders that play just behind the forward – there’s not much discerning evidence in there to say Mahrez is streets better than Alexis Sanchez for instance.
The difference was the plain fact that Leicester had a 20-goal forward and Arsenal did not. When you look at it individually, Sanchez seems to have been the productive in terms of chances created per game and it is easy to see why they were not converted to more assists.
But next season is going to be very different and the level of competitiveness in the Premier League is expected to be at an unprecedented level with most of the elite managerial names in European football vying for the big apple under one roof. It’s imperative that Wenger and Arsenal are not left behind by fellow rivals signing stellar names but if there’s a simple way to win this transfer window, it’s by making a statement by signing the best player of last season – which will not only elevate Arsenal to serious title contenders but also bring back the fear factor that they so sorely missed.
