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Arsenal Fans Should Wish They Were Getting Alex Teixeira
Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Alex Teixeira is currently linked with Chelsea. Arsenal fans may not all know the Brazilian, but he is a diamond in the rough.
It is not rare in the January window when stars of lesser known European leagues are linked with the big clubs. Transfer rumors make a part of the world that is football fandom. Some fans prefer to focus on the talented players their club could have rather than their own team’s form.
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While there are constant transfer links, most of the time, the move doesn’t happen. Even if it does, there are players who flop when they make it to the Champions League level. Shakhtar Donetsk’s Brazilian midfielder Alex Teixeira is showing signs of being a part of the group that is just too good to flop.
Teixeira plays in the attacking midfield, and his attacking firepower is of the Brazilian upper echelon. The 26-year-old scored 38 goals in 2015 across all competitions. Those numbers speak for themselves, but he has scored 25 of those since the middle of September. Not only that, he has found the back of the net 22 times after just 15 starts in 2015/16.
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The Ukrainian Premier league may not be filled with teams capable of top-notch defending, but there is no doubting the temperature of Alex Teixeira. As his form started to pick up, the links with Chelsea emerged – just as they often do when Brazilian attacking midfielders score a few goals.
Though the price tag is near £30m at the moment, it appears Guus Hiddink is seeking Teixeira’s dynamism to strengthen his attack. If Arsene Wenger is thinking about making it an active January and he reads the newspapers, he must kick up an interest in the Brazilian – if he hasn’t already.
Alexis Sanchez, the most active member of the Arsenal attack, has been ruled out for a period of time when Arsenal’s squad needs goals. The resulting burden has fallen on the shoulders of Arsenal’s next biggest star: Mesut Ozil. The German attacking midfielder has shone in the role of prime creator and made more key passes than anybody in the Premier League.
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(We call it, “doing a Fabregas”)
Even though Ozil makes the most key passes per game(3.53), his midfield teammates are doing a poor job of finishing their chances. Save Olivier Giroud, as the striker position has a different set of needed improvements from the midfielders at Arsenal. Theo Walcott has the highest shot conversion rate (8%) among Arsenal’s attacking midfielders, but he partially plays as a striker.
Apart from Alexis Sanchez – who is out injured – Aaron Ramsey’s 6.7% stands as the highest among wide players. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain remains goalless and Joel Campbell is slightly fortunate to have scored with two of his first nine shots. Not only has Alex Teixeira been amongst the goals for a whole year, he has done so in incredibly efficient fashion. There were only ten games in which Teixeira didn’t find the back of the net in 2015 – he made up for it with seven total two-goal games (stats via WhoScored.com).
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Perhaps what Arsenal’s attacking midfield needs is more South American talent in the absence of their general. This type of buy has the potential to rival the likes of Bayern Munich’s acquisition of Douglas Costa from Shakhtar Donetsk one window ago.