Arsenal: Top 5 summer positions of need

2. Centre-Half

While Arsenal’s system certainly does not help centre-halves — there is a desperate lack of protection from the midfield; possession is treasured without a high pressing scheme, meaning that the centre-backs have vast spaces to cover that can be exploited by accurate clearances; the full backs are afforded the freedom to bomb forward at every opportunity –, that does not mean that it is not worth investing in them, especially with the lacking quality in the current squad.

Laurent Koscielny is on the decline. Per Mertesacker is retiring. Shkodran Mustafi is not reserved and considerate enough to command a defence. Calum Chambers and Rob Holding are perhaps not ready for an entrenched starting role. As a result, help must come through the transfer window.

The ideal position for next season would be for Koscielny to slip into a reserve, support role, Mustafi to be joined by a leading, commanding, domineering defender who has both the quality and character to marshall a painfully vulnerable unit, and for Holding and Chambers to continue their development. An addition, in some form, is an absolutely necessity.