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Arsenal Preparing To Rob Chelsea’s Cradle
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal is all about the wonderkid and the youngster. That includes youngsters that are currently displeased with their current English outfit. Namely, Chelsea.
Arsenal has been loading up on youngsters galore over the past year. It is likely Arsene Wenger preparing for his departure from Arsenal. Nothing will help his successor more than providing him with a plethora of young and exciting talent for years and years to come.
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However, most of that talent has been foreign. Poland, Nigeria, Romania and France have all pitched in youngsters to Arsenal’s growing posterity. However, the latest rumor links Chelsea’s young defender Ola Aina. The English defender has a ton of things that Arsenal is looking for, both now and always.
For starters, Aina is a defender. Of all the wonderkids that Arsenal is loading up on, the gross majority of them are offensively-oriented. Krystian Bielik has been playing center back but even he is more than likely destined to become a defensive midfielder, his lifelong position.
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Aina would give Arsenal a fresh, young, highly-touted youngster to join the likes of Stefan O’Connor and Isaac Hayden, the latter of which is probably a defensive midfielder as well. Even with such a history of technically gifted players, you still have to groom some defenders as well.
Not only that, but Aina is arguably ready to contribute to a Premier League team as is. He has been knocking on the Chelsea door for quite some time. So much so that it is his lack of game time that caused him to turn down a contract at Chelsea to potentially seek his fortunes elsewhere.
As it stands, Arsenal’s first team defense consists of a rotating trio of centerbacks: Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel Paulista; as well as fullbacks Hector Bellerin, Kieran Gibbs and Nacho Monreal. Mathieu Debuchy has been very obviously pushed out of the picture. He is clearly either being sold or being frozen out because through all the squad rotation, Debuchy was nowhere to be seen.
That leaves right back staffed by Bellerin alone. O’Connor’s bizarre one-month loan was a potential solution, but there is no indication that he would be ready to fill in in a worst case scenario. Calum Chambers could feasibly play the role, but again, he is more destined for a central role. He lacks the pace and offensive presence to be a consistent right back.
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Aina has the versatility to play center back and right back. We know how much Wenger loves versatility and we know how he can often leave Arsenal thinly staffed on defense. Aina serves both those causes. Plus, we have the added benefit of spite. And what a benefit that always proves to be.