A Closer Look At Morgan Schniederlin

With the January transfer window just round the corner it gives Arsenal a chance to address the gaps in the team *cough* defensive gaps *cough* and we’re going to have a look at some of the most necessary targets and the most likely outcomes, starting with Southampton’s Morgan Schniederlin.

Basic Info

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Age:25

Nationality: French

Height: 1.81m (5ft 11in)

Position: Defensive Midfield or Central Midfield

Clubs: Racing Strasbourg (5 appearances) , Southampton (242 appearances, current club)

Statistics

In those 242 appearances for the club the French defensive midfielder has scored 13 goals and provided 10 assists, but that’s not what he is in the team to do.

In the 33 matches last season for the Saints he still created 30 chances, so maybe he can add something to the forward momentum of the team, but in defence he won almost 50% of the tackles he went in for, over 50% of the take-ons he tried were successful and, possibly the most significant difference between him and the Arsenal team, he won over 60% of his headed duels.

This man is a solid enforcer at the back no matter how the ball is trying to get past him.

He average 4 defensive contributions per match which is pretty solid for a midfielder, and made a grand total of 0 defensive errors. 0. That’s an impeccable season. In contrast Flamini has already made 2 this season, the same as Aaron Ramsey.

Schniederlin also boasts a 90% pass success rate this year, the highest of any regular player in the Southampton line-up.

What can he bring?

Morgan Schneiderlin will bring a cool head, decisive action in the midfield and someone who is a natural at assessing the game situation. I.e when to attack and when to sit further behind the ball (see the Swansea match review).

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His passing is solid and he can create chances, but he will not make pointless errors in the wrong places that can lead to sloppy goals. From what I’ve seen of him at Southampton in the past few seasons he is a voice of calm and a motivator, someone you don’t really want to let down if he is in your side due to the hard work he puts in.

Spurs are after the Frenchman as well after it seemed that Morgan Schneiderlin was set to either move to Liverpool to follow the other 3 Saints or our North London rivals to be reunited with Ponchettino. He is a man in demand and there are many teams that would improve with the addition of his abilities.

How much? How likely?

Transfermarkt.com currently puts his value at just over £17m, but in all likelihood we would need to pay over £20m to sign him in January because it leaves a hole in Southampton’s team. As to how much it would improve our team, I think it’s worth it. We certainly don’t need to spend any more on players in attack at the moment.

How likely? I would give it a 6/10. It’s got to be on Wenger’s radar because he is the player we are missing but I just wonder if he might deem it too quick to do in January and sign a young, unproven attacking midfielder instead?

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Next: Is Mats Hummels a Gunner in Waiting?