Arsenal: Abdoulaye Doucoure sneaking into prime position

Arsenal’s search for a midfielder may be solvable in the Premier League after all, as Abdoulaye Doucoure has suddenly announced himself as a target.

Arsenal’s summer needs are pretty clear and defined, yet there are still people that fly relatively under the transfer radar until they come out and say that they would be interested in playing for Arsene Wenger.

That is what Watford midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure did when he appeared on Telefoot. The Mali midfielder admitted that Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool were all interested, but, when pressed between the Gunners and the Spurs, opted for the dominant side of North London.

Which is all that anyone needs to start talking up his transfer prospectus, and that is exactly what I am here to do.

Doucoure has been an outstanding performer this year, perhaps a bit shockingly, given that he is playing on an incredibly inconsistent Watford side, but he has been nothing if not consistent. The versatile midfielder has split time between a defensive role and a straight central midfield role and has found success in both positions.

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Playing from deeper, he has ten appearances and three goals. Playing straight central, he has 16 appearances, four goals and two assists.

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This is all a massive improvement over what he did in his first year at Watford, when he totaled just one goal in over 1300 minutes of play. He had just made the move Granada, where he was also fairly average, after a long, impressive stay at Rennes.

Looking back at his time at Rennes, Doucoure was a steady performer on the defensive side of things and had a knack for contributing to goals as well. He totaled 12 goals and 11 assists in his time there. That equates to a goal contribution ever 225 minutes, which I don’t need to tell you is pretty good for a multi-purpose midfielder.

This season at Watford, he has found his sweet spot. He has put up his best goal numbers of his career as well as his best defensive numbers since his abbreviated stay at Granada.

Would he fit at Arsenal? Well, the good news is that the acclimation period is pretty much over. He is a Premier League player now and he has proven his merit to be here, as he was a wrecking ball when Watford dismantled Chelsea 4-1.

He could absolutely fill that deeper midfield position that we can’t seem to find a solution for. The only question is how Wenger would use him. He is box to box with his contributions to goal and defensive ability, so do you allow him to do that or harness him into a specific role?

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Whatever the case, he is certainly worth the investment. He would be an upgrade on Mohamed Elneny and his size alone may make him more appealing (to some) than Max Meyer.

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