Arsenal: Max Meyer plausibly solves half of the problem

Arsenal are supposedly placing Max Meyer on the top of their summer list and, as he is free, that opens up funds for the other half of the problem.

Arsenal have their attack all sorted, personnel-wise. Assuming Alexandre Lacazette doesn’t push for an exit, which I really hope he doesn’t, we don’t need to invest in much up front. Maybe a winger or two, for when that extra width is needed, but not much more than that.

Once all these elite players get a beat on how everyone else in the attack functions, they will start thumping home the goals in big numbers. That is not part of the problem. The problem is everything behind that. The recklessness in the back third, the soft spot in the middle third, the lack of closing down, the zealous center backs.

These are the problems we should be addressing in the summer. And half of those problems can be solved by one, free individual.

Max Meyer popped up in January as a very real, very intelligent target for the Gunners and that hasn’t changed, despite Schalke’s dip in form. If anything, the Royal Blue’s faltering in the Bundesliga may make up Meyer’s mind to leave, where once there was talk that he would stay.

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If you want a detailed scouting report on Meyer, I covered that back in January and he hasn’t changed since then. He is still the unexpected best defensive midfielder in the league. Let me say that in a different way – he is better even then the apple of some fans’ eye, Naby Keita.

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He is undersized, but so too is N’Golo Kante and Keita, the likes of which we have salivated over in the past. The reason why Meyer solved so much of the problem is because he is a midfield ball winner who is also a pivot. Naturally, he is being compared to Santi Cazorla, and that couldn’t be more apt. He has more room to grow into an even better version, however, given that he is only 22.

The problem, of course, is Bayern Munich, who treat the rest of the Bundesliga like a farm system. They have entered the fray for Meyer after already securing Leon Goretzka, but they remain the Gunners only real competitor. Spurs were in on him last summer, but given that Arsenal are now in on it, they will take priority given that they are the more appetizing of the two clubs.

Stick Meyer in behind any one or two midfielders and we will have one of the best, budding deep-lying midfielders in world football.

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The other half of the problem is identifying a fix to the defense. But since Meyer is free, we will have extra funds to accomplish that.

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