Arsenal Need Reliable Premier League Talent Victor Wanyama

Arsenal’s qualification to the Champions League is great news for fans, but now the squad must add reliable talent in the form of Victor Wanyama. 

I’ll admit it. After losing to Olympiakos at the Emirates, I began suffering acute melancholia. I couldn’t see a way that we could keep our sights focused on keeping a strong position while qualifying for the round of 16. In some ways I have been right. We have pushed our squad nearly to the breaking point, suffering a litany of injuries due to poor squad rotation. We have also dropped a fair amount of points in our last three Premier League games. Points that would put us comfortably at the top of the league if we had them.

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Despite that, Arsenal is now poised to make a thrilling push towards silverware on three separate fronts. Reinforcements are necessary. Arsene Wenger himself has said this.

He knows that the team needs to have a few more fresh bodies to lighten the load. Mesut Ozil’s consistency and Aaron Ramsey’s versatility are the keys to success this season. Keeping them fit should be our main priority.  Ozil has played 90′ in every game since Watford. Ramsey is just coming back from injury. With Coquelin and Carzola both out we need to add a player who can form a partnership with Ramsey and can also play a more box-to-box  role, thereby killing two birds with one stone. This will allow Arsenal the ability to play Ramsey at No. 10 while resting Ozil. It will also give the Welshman a sturdy partner to play off of, or even alternate with in lower competitions.

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The perfect player for this position is Victor Wanyama. Wanyama is very similar to Arsenal’s fearsome Frenchmen. Some aspects of his game are actually identical. He is a strong tackler with 27 this season, and very solid in the air, winning 50% of his aerial duels. He also reads the game with a keen eye, snatching 33 interceptions so far. His 82% pass completion pales in comparison to Coquelin’s 91%. But that can also be partially chalked up to Arsenal’s better passing as a team compared to Southampton. However, Wanyama has logged twice as many key passes and nearly 100 more forward passes, per Squawka.

The former Celtic bruiser has bit more flair going forward than Coquelin as well. Therefore he could play a more box-to-box role when called upon. He reminds me a great deal of a younger more defensive-minded Moussa Sissoko. I also subscribe to the school of thought that believes that it was Wanyama’s strengths that gave his former teammate Morgan Schneiderlin such an excellent platform to excel on. We all know the Frenchman eventually gained himself a big money transfer to Manchester United.

The problem with all of Arsenal’s other DM targets is that they are either injured (Lars Bender), too expensive (Carvahlo) or too entrenched in the culture of their teams to leave in January (Neves, Krychowiak). Wanyama is none of these and he even filed a transfer request last summer. At 24 years of age, the Kenyan is not even yet in his prime yet. Not to mention the fact that he won’t need to worry about getting acclimated to the fast pace of England.

“I rate him as a player, but we are not on the case”

Arsenal would have to pay over £15 million for the Kenyan star. But its about damn time the manager loosened his purse strings. Arsenal are in a crisis and the team needs to add depth, youth and quality in the January window. Just because Francis Coquelin ended up costing Arsenal essentially nothing does not mean that actually paying for talent is a faulty business model. Furthermore the competition between the Coquelin and Wanyama will be healthy for the Gunners, who are currently reaping the benefits of similar situations between Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott as well as Joel Campbell and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin.

Having two steely, tough-tackling defensive options is something that Arsenal have lacked for years. This added balance would be hugely beneficial going forward. Imagine Arsenal playing away at Real Madrid or perhaps Barcelona and only needing a draw to gain a positive result. The ability to play a powerful double pivot of Wanyama and Coquelin would be incredible. Robert Pires has also been quoted as being a keen admirer of Wanyama’s.

Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger has been playing coy about his interest in Wanyama. When grilled about a possible move for the Southampton destroyer, Wenger admitted that he rates the player but would not be looking to make a move for him. Telling reporters at his weekly press conference “I rate him as a player, but we are not on the case”, per the Mirror.

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However I think this is the manager playing down suspicion. Wanyama was once a protege of Mauricio Pochettino when the Spurs manager was in charge at Southampton. Wenger may be trying to throw his North London rivals off the scent. It would be a great move to get a preemptive strike against Tottenham while adding some much needed strength to our team. If Wanyama were to join a healthy Coquelin, a young but promising Krystian Bilek and a transforming Calum Chambers, the future of Arsenal’s defensive midfield may finally be set.