The transfer window is closed, well at least, partly closed. Premier League clubs still have an extra week to sign players from the English Football League.
Whilst Arsenal have had somewhat a healthy window, the club still appear to lack creativity in wide and central areas of the pitch. With Mesut Ozil seemingly still out in the cold, the club have no natural number 10 and only Pepe and Willian are wide players who create reasonable amounts of chances.
That potentially opens the door to a new arrival. It was well documented that Arsenal wanted to sign Houssem Aouar, with an offer being rejected at the end of September.
It has been reported before that Arsenal are interested in Brentford midfielder, Said Benrahma, and now The Mirror suggest Arsenal have been looking at the dynamic midfielder. Benrahma is more of a winger than Aouar, but plays in similar areas. Naturally a left winger, he can also play as a number 10 and boasts impressive creative statistics in recent seasons, albeit in the Championship.
Benrahma is 25 and still playing second tier football, but we’ve seen with his former teammate Ollie Watkins and his compatriot Riyad Mahrez, that players can make that jump up a level and still deliver.
Arsenal have also lacked goals from midfield, Benrahma last season scored 17 and 10 the season before, he also assisted 9 and 14 the season before. It’s clear he could help Arsenal in that final third, and he could also allow for Aubameyang to play through the middle.
But would he be worth the investment? Likely to cost around £25million, it’s arguable that youngsters Saka and even Nelson and Smith Rowe could step up in these positions.
With the January transfer window less than 3 months away, Arsenal are unlikely to try and cut corners by signing Benrahma for the sake of it – however Arsenal may do it if they view him as the right solution to our lack of creativity.