Arsenal: Mario Lemina another Mohamed Elneny signing

Arsenal appear to be hot on the heels of Mario Lemina, but could the Gabonese midfielder just be another Mohamed Elneny in the making?

Arsenal’s fervent pursuit of Mario Lemina has always been rather curious. The midfielder has been with Juventus for two years now but has never played more than 900 minutes in any given season. Before that, in his time with Marseille, it was the same story. He maxed out at 1200 minutes in 2014/15 and before that, at Lorient, he was a non-factor.

This is a guy who has never found much stage to perform on. When he has, he has been good. Not great, not bad, just good. And that’s why he remains where he is, chipping away at minutes year after year.

The Gunners interest in Lemina feels like the same kind of interest they had in Mohamed Elneny back when they signed him. Granted, it was under different circumstances, as Elneny was stepping into a massive void while Lemina would be coming into a crowd, but the outcome seems like it would be the same.

Both midfielders are solid in what they do. They have their uses and their identity, with the hint of a higher ceiling, but I don’t think Arsene Wenger was ever expecting Elneny to turn into a world-beater, nor would be be expecting Lemina too.

These are depth signings. Solid options who can fill in, provide some upside, and not threaten the first team too much. They aren’t going to make that big of an impact, barring something crazy, or an attack of the injury bug, but that’s okay, because they are cheap, young, and reliable in what they do.

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I can’t help but wonder, though, why Arsene Wenger wouldn’t just go out and spend on a midfielder like Corentin Tolisso, who would threaten the first team and push them to be at their best, rather than a Lemina-type who doesn’t figure to provide much of that.

It might go back to Wenger’s desire to protect the XI that he has, despite all the evidence that pushing that XI breeds greater results. Look at what it did to Olivier Giroud, Aaron Ramsey and heck, even Nacho Monreal. When you pressure them, they improve.

Lemina won’t provide any pressure, just like Elneny doesn’t. If that’s all Wenger wants, that’s fine, but the bigger clubs out there don’t sign guys to be their back-ups, they sign as many first-team quality players as they can and let them duke it out for the starting roles.

That is where I see the problem though. Look at Real Madrid. They have quality galore in the midfield, but guys like Isco and James Rodriguez, who would walk into most club’s starting XI, are left frustrated because they are the depth players and not the starters.

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It seems like that’s the kind of thing that Wenger is trying to avoid with his safe signings. Then again, it’s Real Madrid that are winning the Champions League every year. Not Arsenal.

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