Arsenal can make James Rodriguez a superstar again

Arsenal’s only real remaining need is to find a prolific striker, but a midfielder like James Rodriguez would be a nice little bit of business too.

Arsenal’s midfield is in pretty good shape. The attacking two slots are manned by Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, both of whom have earned that spot and carry a ton of excitement regarding their future there. Behind them, Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka have struck up one hell of a partnership.

In terms of rotation options, Alex Iwobi is going to want back into the mix, Mohamed Elneny surely does too and Santi Cazorla will be back at some point.

And those are just the best options. There are handfuls more when you factor in more injuries and loaned players.

Suffice to say, the Gunners don’t exactly need a new midfielder. But with the injuries that they do have to guys they once either relied on or had high hopes for, procuring a surefire midfield option that can rotate between those four midfield positions would be a solid bit of business.

And that is where James Rodriguez comes into it. I have never been that sold on James, simply because he is one of the many names that buys into Real Madrid and then disappears there. But when you look at what the Colombian has done in his time with Los Blancos, you have to wonder why exactly he isn’t given more of a fighting chance.

In his inaugural year at the Spanish capital, James was superb, playing just under 3000 minutes, scoring 14 goals and assisting on 15. That is a very solid output, no matter who you play for, and accounts for a production clip of goal contributed to every 103 minutes.

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The following year, despite a massive dent in his playing time, which saw his 3000 minutes nearly cut in half to 1700, he still produced eight goals and eight assists. Also known as a goal contributed to every 106 minutes.

You can take away his time, but you won’t take away his talent.

Finally, this past year, with his minutes dwindling all the way to 1400 minutes, he against scored eight and assisted eight. In his most frustrating year, he produced his best clip, contributing to a goal every 87 minutes.

James would be an excellent addition to the Gunners. Especially with the future of Alexis and Mesut Ozil still hovering around questionable. He is only 25 years old, he can play any midfield position and he would be excellent cover when it comes to assuming the worst with our two current superstars.

Next: Arsenal's Complete 2016/17 Player Ratings

James can be a superstar. He was already one before Real Madrid sought to bury him. If the Gunners can give him the minutes required to bring those superstar qualities back out of him, then everyone wins.

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