Arsenal: Squeezing Leon Goretzka and Aaron Ramsey into the same team

Leon Goretzka could well be coming to Arsenal, hopefully. If that were to be the case, would it be possible to squeeze him and Aaron Ramsey into the same team?

Arsenal need to bolster their midfield options. That much is true without Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil leaving, which is now widely expected. So once they’ve left, the need for sound investment and astute recruitment in the most important position of a football team is absolutely essential.

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Thankfully, Arsene Wenger seems to have found a name. Recent reports are suggesting that Wenger is pursuing Schalke midfielder Leon Goretzka, hoping to sign him to a pre-contract agreement, for when his contract expires at the end of the year, in January, the time that Goretzka himself stated would be the deadline for the decision on his future.

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Goretzka would be an extremely wise addition. At only 22, he is the ripe age to sign a young player, just beginning to enter his prime. He has a wealth of domestic experience with the German club, and has played at the international level also. As a gliding, elegant, intelligent midfielder, he has the attacking nous and creativity, the vision and spatial awareness, and the skill in his passing and distribution to flourish in Wenger’s possession-orientated system.

The only problem, really, is Aaron Ramsey is a gliding, elegant midfielder, with attacking nous and creativity, boasting good vision and spatial awareness, as well as possessing the skill in his passing and distribution required to excel under Wenger. So is it possible to squeeze two players of such similar style and substance into the same team?

Well, it is. Wenger need only cast his eye to the top of the table to see how it could work. David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne are two players built out of a similar mould. Although one is slighter smaller in stature and sharper in movement, they both offer a very similar talent to the team: Creativity.

Pep Guardiola plays both alongside one another in central midfield. He can do that because of Fernandinho anchoring the side at the base of that midfield. Arsenal do not have that type of player to be able to provide the foundations in midfield, protecting the defence and instigating attacks from deep.

So the only way to squeeze both into the team would be to push one higher up the pitch, perhaps flanking a central striker. While they have the technical quality to be able to play such a role, it does detract from the overall pace of the side, perhaps lacking the purposeful drive that is required to break teams down in the final third.

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It is possible to squeeze both Ramsey and Goretzka into the same team. But even if it wasn’t, that would not then make Goretzka a wasteful investment. Having a deep and varied squad is important over a long season, especially if the Champions League is on the menu. Just having the option to rotate between Goretzka and Ramsey would help Arsenal, nevermind playing them side by side.