Arsenal: Ousmane Dembele completes the quest for explosiveness

Throughout the summer, it has been clear that Arsene Wenger has been on a quest to add some explosiveness to the Arsenal attack. Ousmane Dembele would complete that quest.

Throughout last season, it was clear that Arsene Wenger had grown tiresome of a lumbering, lethargic attack. He wanted pace and power. He wanted the ball to fizz between players. He wanted fluid, dynamic runs off the ball. He wanted his players to dribble with intention and purpose. He wanted Arsenal to play at a tempo that was simply too quick for their opponents. He wanted explosiveness.

Olivier Giroud, for all of his merits and his uses, is not an explosive, dynamic player. He may be a towering, strong and powerful centre-forward who can dominate aerially and bully defenders into submission. But he does not provide the pace that Wenger is striving for.

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That is a key reason for why Alexandre Lacazette was brought into the side. The Frenchman is a willing runner. Rather than play with his back to goal, Lacazette looks to spin in behind his opponents, stretching the defence into the channels, looking for threaded through balls or lofted passes to run onto. It is a simple difference in style but it is a difference that Wenger wanted to find.

However, while the club-record addition of Lacazette is a substantial and impactful one, Wenger’s search for explosiveness has not stopped there. Bids for Thomas Lemar and Kylian Mbappe; links with Riyad Mahrez and Ross Barkley. These are players who flourish in a free-flowing, fast-paced attack. So does Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele, another player who has reportedly caught Wenger’s eye.

Per reports in Spain, Arsenal had an offer for Dembele rejected. Whether such reports should be believed or not, I have my doubts. However, speaking simply about the player, Dembele boasts the characteristics that Wenger should and has been striving to introduce.

He is searingly fast, with and without the ball, he is dangerously direct, always looking to drive forwards, rather than picking the safe option. His movement is sharp and intelligent, with purposeful direction and good timing with the rhythm of the play.

He also has the positional understanding and versatility to play across the front line. This means that, although he may be stationed out wide, he has the positional awareness and vision to exploit pockets of space elsewhere, if given the freedom to roam, as Wenger surely would.

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I certainly am far from convinced that a bid was ever made and do question whether Dembele would want to join Arsenal in the first place, especially given the competition for his signature from Barcelona and Real Madrid. However, he is the type of player that Wenger is wanting to sign and it would be exhilarating to see him line up alongside Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Lacazette. A man can dream, right?

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