Charles Aranguiz Should be Arsenal’s Number One Transfer Priority

Charles Aranguiz is one of the more recent names to pop up on the Arsenal transfer rumor radar, and it’s a perfectly feasible rumor for a variety of reasons. Firstly, he considers playing for Arsenal to be a dream: “They’re a great team, and it would be a dream — but for now that’s all it is, a dream” (ESPNFC).

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So that’s a good thing, but as we figured out from Moussa Sissoko, blatantly stating how much you like a team doesn’t mean you’ll be playing there. Luckily for Aranguiz, there are several other factors in his favor.

One of those factors is Alexis Sanchez, Aranguiz’s Chilean team mate. It’s one of the most undervalued weapons in the transfer rumor market – having a countryman try to lure his comrades to a team. Alexis Sanchez is the second most popular Chilean human being behind Snooki (via FamousBirthdays.com), so I can’t think of a better ambassador for Arsenal to have to lure Aranguiz to the Emirates (except Snooki).

Then, there’s the reasonable price of five million pounds (even transfermarkt‘s 6.5 million pound value would be completely worth it). Charles Aranguiz isn’t going to leap into Arsenal first-team action. He’d be a quality depth signing with the ability to rotate into the squad and not cause a setback. With Arsenal’s legitimacy to compete for the Premier League title steadily on the rise, we need quality players to cover potential injury risks, and nowhere on the pitch is there more Arsenal injury risk than at midfield. 

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Charles Aranguiz was impressive in Chile’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of Brazil. He led the team in interceptions and was tied for second in tackles. Interceptions and tackles are two things that Francis Coquelin brought to the team that Arsenal had been grossly lacking for quite some time. Along with the defensive numbers, Aranguiz had the most touches of any forward player and an impressive 87% pass completion percentage (via WhoScored.com).

The Chilean midfielder is also quite versatile. He can play a defensive or attacking role. As a defensive player for Internacional this year, Charles Aranguiz has made 15 appearances, scoring five goals and assisting on three – pretty impressive numbers for a defensive midfielder. In fact, if you put some of his stats up against Francis Coquelin and Mesut Ozil, he’s kind of like a nice blend of the two. Take a look (via Squawka):

[table id=34 /]

However, what Charles Aranguiz has that neither Coquelin nor Ozil has is a nose for goal. Aranguiz has scored 25 goals in 92 appearances in the past four years. For a midfielder, those numbers are very impressive and comparable to Aaron Ramsey, who has scored 26 goals in his last 112 appearances.

The all-encompassing skill set of Charles Aranguiz would be a welcome addition to Arsenal. And at such a reasonable price, there seems to be no drawbacks. The only potential hang-up is that Aranguiz just signed a permanent deal with Internacional last summer and he’s never played football across the big Atlantic pond. But you never know until you try, and Aranguiz could acclimate just as easily as Alexis did.

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