Unai Emery has had a positive start to life at Arsenal, but he is yet to truly make his make on the squad with new additions. So far, existing players have been given a chance to impress in the first team.
But January is little over a month away and Emery will now have more of an idea about where his squad needs reinforcement. The two gaps for me are in central defence and a wide forward. There’s also a requirement long term for a new left-back to come in and make that position their own, Ben Chilwell anyone?
Big signings are traditionally hard to make in January, but one player who could be available is Ousmane Dembele. We know Arsenal are fans and would like to sign the player and Barcelona do not seem too determined to keep hold of the Frenchman, especially as they reportedly consider re-signing Neymar.
Reports now suggest that both Arsenal and Liverpool are on red alert as it seems the Spanish club would be willing to part with Dembele for £89million. It sounds like a lot of money and on the surface it would be, blowing the clubs current transfer record fee out the water, but in Dembele the Gunners would acquire a player of the highest quality and still so young.
Many will forget that Dembele is still just 21, and so has huge resale value if the move doesn’t go to plan. He’s already performed at the highest level for both Dortmund and Barcelona for the last three years and has been capped 20 times for his country.
Dembele would bring an end product to Arsenal’s attack that is clearly lacking currently and I’m sure Aubameyang would be very keen to reunite with the youngster.
Arsenal have money in the bank but would probably need to sell to raise funds. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mohamed Elneny are two players already down the pecking order that the club may look to shift over the next 6 months to make way for new arrivals.
Danny Welbeck’s injury has forced Arsenal to look to sign a new wide forward in January rather than the summer. Welbeck’s contract expires in the summer and the club had initially earmarked a move for his replacement then.
Nicolas Pepe of Lille and Cristian Pavon of Boca Juniors would be cheaper alternatives to Dembele.