It isn’t often that a player who gets relegated twice in their only two Premier League seasons can come away with a variety of potential suitors, but for Andre-Frank Anguissa there will be plenty of clubs swarming, looking to obtain his services. Anguissa has been a bright spark in both his seasons for Fulham and despite their overall poor performances, Anguissa has impressed.
The Mail Online has stated that one of the many clubs looking to buy Anguissa is Arsenal. The links between both the player and the North-London club have circulated since his introduction to English football and have recently started to intensify with rumours regarding Arsenal’s centre-midfielders aplenty.
With Dani Ceballos returning to Madrid after a lacklustre second season in the Premier League and Granit Xhaka and Joe Willock being heavily touted for their services, it would appear that a new central midfielder arriving at Arsenal is imminent.
Anguissa would represent a different midfield profile to the aforementioned midfielders and, if the rumours are true, it would suggest that Edu and Arteta are looking to build a solid base at the heart of midfield with Anguissa slotting in alongside last season’s marquee signing Thomas Partey. From watching both these players conduct their business in midfield, there are many similarities between the two profiles.
They both have a strong ability to win the ball back, using their long legs to grasp balls which seem out of their reach, both in the tackle and when latching onto passes. However, similarly to Partey, Anguissa is equally as strong when on the ball. He has an ability to break through the lines of midfield with his long gait and impressive dribbling skills which creates opportunities to counter from winning the ball back endless.
His passing range is also notable and at the centre of Fulham’s play was Anguissa’s long, raking switches off the play to change the angle or to kickstart attacks. The possibility of Anguissa and Partey in the middle of the Arsenal midfield would represent a shift to a more physical midfield than what we have seen in recent years at the Emirates and based on Arteta’s previous comments on physicality in the Premier League, this seems to be the blueprint for what Arsenal are looking to build.
Anguissa would be a nice addition to what appears to be the bare Arsenal midfield, but due to the previously mentioned similar skillset to Thomas Partey and his inflated price tag, due to competition for his signing, it would appear that there are more attractive options to be had in centre midfield. These links do represent that a central midfielder arriving at Arsenal is likely and with rumours of Sander Berge or Yves Bissouma joining the club it helps to highlight Arsenal’s desires.