Arsenal’s Idling Costing Them Grzegorz Krychowiak

Arsenal have long been tied to Polish bruiser Grzegorz Krychowiak, but now they look set to miss out. Can this really be happening yet again?

Arsenal’s defensive ineptitude last year does not appear to be too high up on Arsene Wenger’s to-do list. Surprisingly, that’s not very surprising. It wasn’t more than a couple years ago when Arsenal was in the same situation. With just Mertesacker, Koscielny and Vermaelen, Wenger did not seek to increase his stock.

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Injuries cost Arsenal in a situation that we have become reacquainted with this year. And for some reason, we yet again appear unlikely to beef up that defense.

But what does all of this have to do with the man of the article, Grzegorz Krychowiak? Well, everything, really.

Krychowiak is a defensive midfielder. One of the best. At 26 years of age, he has turned Sevilla’s midfield into a formidable fortress. Yet he has also acknowledged that Sevilla can only take him so far. He wants to be the best and he understands that in order to do that, he will have to, at some point, move to a better club.

Arsenal have been heavily, heavily linked to Krychowiak in the past. I thought a deal would be done in January, but Wenger pulled out his pocket change and bought Mohamed Elneny instead.

Now he’s bought Granit Xhaka. Many through that should be the end of Krychowiak rumors, and apparently Arsene Wenger agreed with you. But I don’t.

Krychowiak is a midfielder yes, and that is where Arsenal would primarily use him (Xhaka isn’t a straight DM). Combine the Swiss and the Pole and Arsenal would have the most fearsome midfield in England, if not in all of Europe.

But take for instance those times when one of Arsenal’s center backs is not performing up to scratch or is inevitably hurt. In those times, our big Polish bruiser can step back into the defensive line and deputize as a center back. He has done it for Sevilla and it worked perfectly fine. He is a defensive-minded player so playing defense is just what he does.

The problem is that Arsenal have idled. They have dawdled and waited and suddenly, other teams are taking pole position to sign Gregorz Krychowiak. Namely, PSG. 

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PSG have their heart set on pairing Krychowiak with Verratti, which, by the way, is terrifying. That is not the shocking part of all of this. The shocking part is the reported price tag of this world class defensive midfielder.

The Telegraph is reporting that he will only cost £23m. That is an absolute bargain and a half.

This link is predicated on PSG’s new boss being the man who brought Krychowiak to Sevilla, Unai Emery. Hard to compete with that. But the lesson is ripe for the picking – Arsenal idled and it cost them yet again. Why they didn’t move for him sooner is so far beyond me. It’s not even about Arsenal’s gross lack of a defensive midfielder, it has to do with their need for central defensive help.

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Krychowiak can do both. But now we are fighting an uphill battle to land a guy that we once stood on top of the hill for.