Arsenal: Arsene Wenger's Transfer Roulette Has Begun

Arsenal have had their transfer limit set at three, meaning that Arsene Wenger has begun the transfer roulette of how he wants to utilize his last two slots.

The transfer window hasn’t even opened yet and already Arsenal are 33% done with their business. Or at least, that’s according to the man himself, Arsene Wenger. Le Prof has indicated that, in order to maintain stability, Arsenal will make a maximum of three moves this summer. Which, given the acquisition of Granit Xhaka, leaves room for just two more signings. Math at it’s finest.

I imagine that with two more signings, Wenger can plug the remaining holes. Although I had three more positions pegged as needing an upgrade. So that means that Wenger only intends to fill two of those three positions.

Let the roulette begin.

To me, a striker, a central defender and a wide attacker need to be brought in to buffer Arsenal’s odds. But with only two to be filled, we have to eliminate one. And it’s not an easy elimination.

Striker obviously has to come first. I still get nervous twitches when I think about Arsenal going into the 2016/17 season with just Olivier Giroud, a battered Danny Welbeck, and Chuba Akpom. It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Plus, the link to Jamie Vardy indicates that Wenger is in the market to bring a striker to Arsenal, even if his name isn’t Jamie Vardy. Which it still might be.

That leaves central defense or wide attacker for the last remaining (and, it must be said, optional) transfer. There is no guarantee that Wenger will buy three players just because he said that three is the maximum.

But we are dealing with assumptions here, so which will it be, a central defender or a wide attacker?

Every time I get close to eliminating one, I think of the benefits of the other.

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I really like Alex Iwobi but I don’t think he is ready to be a full-blown starter. I also don’t think we can rely on Walcott or the Ox and Wenger clearly has something against Joel Campbell. Again, when it comes to confidence, I don’t have a lot in this position. The good news is that Arsenal have Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere all capable of playing out wide. Jon Toral is an option too.

Which means that Wenger should be identifying central defense as the primary need of this Arsenal team. With just Per Mertesacker, Gabriel Paulista and Laurent Koscielny to fit the two positions, there is even less confidence here.

I consider the two center back positions just like our two wide midfield positions. Alexis and Koscielny are synonymous. They are embedded. If the wide midfield slots were manned like the the central defense, then Arsenal would have only Theo Walcott and the Ox. There would be no Campbell, no Iwobi, no Serge Gnabry, and only one versatile midfield option that could play out wide (Nacho Monreal).

Next: Arsenal's Top 5 Striking Options

So yeah, let’s make it a striker and a central defender. Roulette over. Get it done.

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Arsenal: Arsene Wenger’s Transfer Roulette Has Begun

By Josh Sippie | Jun 20, 2016

Arsenal have had their transfer limit set at three, meaning that Arsene Wenger has begun the transfer roulette of how he wants to utilize his last two slots.

More from Pain in the Arsenal