Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez, Miralem Pjanic Swap Not Ridiculous

Arsenal has supposedly been offered a swap deal, Alexis Sanchez for Miralem Pjanic. Don’t dismiss it so quickly, because there may be something here.

Losing Alexis Sanchez at all is an absolute disaster situation for Arsenal. He has become such an important part of the team that there will be no replacing him. Not even with Serge Gnabry (that’s a joke). Therefore the idea of Juventus offering a swap deal where they send us Miralem Pjanic and we send them Alexis seems kind of stupid.

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But before we disband it, we have to ask ourselves if Alexis is staying. It may seem obvious, but if Alexis plans on leaving, then might as well cash in and get something guaranteed in return that can plug another hold in the team and cover for Santi Cazorla for the long haul.

Wenger has already admitted that he will not sell Alexis Sanchez or Mesut Ozil. So that means that if no new deal can be found, they will simply run out their contract (hypothetically – it is still a long way away).

Miralem Pjanic is someone we can get excited about. He is one of the most consistently versatile and dominant midfielders in the modern game. He’s just spent all of his time in Serie A.

But the man can play. He is a regular to goal scoring and assisting and would likely to Cazorla’s job even better and for much longer. The role is there to be filled and Pjanic fits the type that we want to see there.

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Continually dominating Serie A cannot be the end goal for Pjanic. Eventually he is going to want to stride into a more challenging scenario and that’s when Arsenal can capitalize. This summer, Pjanic is a realistic option and something that we will be heavily monitoring.

A straight purchase would be massively expensive, although I don’t think that is a hold on the deal anymore.

The swap has its perks. I’m not saying it’s the go-to, but in a worst case scenario where Alexis wants out, then what is there to lose?

Now, obviously hints are pushing us towards the belief that Alexis will stay and that would be the coolest thing ever. But can we seriously go after Pjanic?

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I get wanting to let Wilshere have a shot at the spot on his return, but Pjanic is a special talent and someone that could lock down that midfield for the long term.