Arsenal: Leon Bailey the preferred option over Malcom

Arsenal need help with expanding the width of the pitch, mostly because they don’t even have a winger on staff. Leon Bailey has to take precedence, even over Malcom.

Arsenal have a pretty clear picture of what is needed in the summer transfer window, and the best part is that they have options in their needs. Particularly when it comes to wingers, which they so desperately need, as they currently have all of zero natural wide players.

Names like Yannick Carrasco and Lorenzo Insigne have joined the conversation, but the two that look most likely, given their clear willingness to swap clubs, are Leon Bailey and Malcom.

The Gunners came quite close to landing Malcom in the January window, but it’s suspected that Bordeaux’s insistence on a six-month loan back to France was what held the deal up and left Premier League club’s a bit disenchanted.

Yet the Brazilian keeps talking up his desire to play in England, so you have to imagine that a move is on the cards for this summer.

Leon Bailey, however, should take precedence over Malcom simply because of what he brings to the table.

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When you think of the primary attributes we would want out of a winger, I’d say the number one factor is speed. After that, mix technical ability and being able to pass well with workable, sensible crosses, because blind crosses don’t work anymore without Olivier Giroud here.

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In this regard, we turn to the numbers. Both have very similar hard stats. Bailey has nine goals and five assists, Malcom has eight goals and six assists. In the chances created per 90 minutes department, Malcom has the slight edge with 2.6 to Bailey’s 2.4, but when you dissect where these chances are coming from, you see a clear picture of what we would be looking for.

Of Malcom’s 2.6 chances created, only 0.8 come from crosses and 0.4 from corners. The majority of his chances (1.4) come from the ambiguous “other” category, which includes everything that is not a freekick, corner, cross, throughball or throw in.

Bailey, however, pulls the majority of his chances from wide angles – 1.4 from crosses and 0.8 from corners, so 2.2 in total come from wide angles per 90 minutes, whereas Malcom is only at 1.2.

If the objective is to have a steadier presence out wide, with more of a threat from there, then Bailey is the man. And it’s not like he has some hulking Giroud-esque striker that he is crossing to.

You can then split the difference on their dribbles to dispossession figures, as they are a near wash. Which, in a final verdict, means that Bailey, with more speed, more width and and equal footing in dribbling and technical ability, is the winner.

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Not to mention going beyond the stats. Bailey plays on a high-paced Bayer Leverkusen attack that is more along the lines of what the Gunners are going for. He is a sparkplug. I see Malcom as more of an Alex Iwobi type. He doesn’t have as much speed as you’d like to keep play wide and while he is a fantastic passer, I wonder if he would be the right fit for this high-octane attack we are suddenly building.

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