Friday, March 29, 2024

The £50million Signing Arsenal Should Make Within 24 Hours

Arsene Wenger has quite rightly bemoaned the lack of top class quality strikers on the market. His reported main target, Karim Benzema looks set to stay in Madrid and there is a lack of alternatives with just three days until the window slams shut.

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With cash reserves in excess of £80million, Arsenal have the financial power to sign nearly anyone. But who should we splash the cash for? Step forward, Marco Reus.

Reus, 26 is amongst the best in the world. He has managed 39 goals in 84 games for a Dortmund side who won’t play Champions League football this season. Although Reus committed his future to the club earlier this season, there is an acceptance that he could leave for the right money.

Mainly deployed at left wing – Reus is almost equally as comfortable in the number 10 role or as a striker. He has a brilliant goal scoring record considering his base position and that’s one of many reasons why he’d be a brilliant signing.

I remember watching him in the 2011/12 campaign, the season before he moved to Dortmund. Playing for Borussia Mochengladbach, Reus netted 18 goals and notched up 9 assists in 32 Bundesliga games. It was at Mochengladbach where he proved he can perform more than capably as a striker, and at just 22 years of age too.

On 4 January 2012, he agreed to join Dortmund but didn’t officially join them until July that year. He then went on to score 13 goals and assist 9 in his debut season. He needed no time to adjust to a team that had just won back-to-back Bundesliga titles. Since then, he hasn’t looked back – despite a serious injury that saw him miss the 2014 World Cup, Reus has proven his world class ability season after season.

At 26, he’s younger than the likes of Benzema and Edinson Cavani making any big money investment make more sense.

Dortmund don’t need to sell him – he’s already scored two in two in the Bundesliga this season and a hatful in the Europa League for a resurgent team under new manager Thomas Tuchel.

Because Reus missed most of last season through injury / recovering from injury, I’ve chosen to compare his 2013/14 stats to Giroud’s last season. The numbers shown below are based on per 90 minutes and from squawka.com.

Reus Giroo

As you can see, Reus blows Giroud out the water. These stats also suggest the German has the attributes to play as a striker. 0.53 assists a game, 0.65 goals scored per game, 3.34 successful take ons per game, 59% shot accuracy and 75% pass completion. Those statistics help illustrate what a well rounded forward the German is, he’s special.

Although mainly playing as a midfielder recently, Reus’ conversion rate is a particularly attractive quality for an Arsenal side looks extremely wasteful so far this campaign. A shot accuracy of 59% (he often shoots from distance) and 0.65 goals per game is very impressive. As Wenger said, we are desperate for more goal scorers in the team and I can’t think of many better than Reus who have this quality.

Dortmund signed Adnan Januzaj on loan on Monday, perhaps that may free Reus up.

Do you think there’s someone more suitable to offer £50million for? Get involved with the conversation by tweeting us at @Fresh_Arsenal

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