Arsenal: £60 million Nabil Fekir doesn’t add up on its own

Arsenal are reportedly set to push for a £60 million deal for Nabil Fekir to help replace Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. But one player for two just doesn’t add up.

Arsenal are having to move on. Ever since Alexis Sanchez was signed in the summer of 2014, the most recent version of this team has been built on his seemingly telepathic connection with Mesut Ozil, who was brought to the club just a year prior to the Chilean’s arrival. But with their contracts winding down — both expire at the end of the year — and their apparent desire to leave, change is going to come.

Related Story: Arsenal: 3 reasons to love Wilfried Zaha solution

The key, then, for Arsene Wenger is not necessarily trying to prevent such change. It is inevitable. His priorities should be on directing the change, ensuring that it enacts in a way that benefits the squad and furthers the development of his squad, even if the two most influential players are departing.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 observations from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park

Consequently, it is vital that Arsenal are able to replace Sanchez and Ozil with players of a similarly inspirational quality. The real influence of Ozil and Sanchez does not necessarily come in their own production. It comes in the betterment of those around them. They are facilitators and instigators. That is what must be replaced. And Wenger, if the most recent reports are to be believed, has, ostensibly, found his target.

The Daily Star, and take that for what it is worth, which is very little, are claiming that Wenger has named Lyon attacker Nabil Fekir as the ideal player to replace the soon-to-be-departing Ozil and Sanchez. The piece states that Arsenal expect to sell both Ozil and Sanchez for approximately £30 million each in the January transfer window, and will use the money to fund a £60 million move for Fekir. It all adds up, right?

Well, not quite. Fekir is an excellent player. After a nasty knee injury, he has rediscovered his very best form this season, scoring 11 goals and assisting a further four in just 11 Ligue 1 games. That is an outstanding contribution to a dangerous Lyon attacking team. But he is just one player. And he’s not even a proven one.

Sanchez and Ozil have been truly elite attacking players. There are few in world football that can claim to have the ability and the impact that either provide. To try and replace such an influence with one unestablished, but talented, player just does not add up.  That is not to say that Fekir would be an unwise investment. I actually believe that he would be an extremely astute addition, one that would help improve Arsenal hugely. But he is not enough. It does not add up.

Next: Arsenal: 30 greatest players in history

And this has been the problem with Wenger’s assembling of his squad for many, many years. He has tried to replace outgoing greatness with incoming goodness. It is not that the signings are poor players. But they are not of the level required. The two do not equate. This is just another example.