Arsenal: Free Max Meyer more valuable than expensive Nabil Fekir

Arsenal’s summer plans are going to be a mass crap shoot, with Max Meyer and Nabil Fekir factoring in. But these two are separated by worlds.

Arsenal’s summer transfer window is going to be the first without Arsene Wenger involved in the past two decades. Which could mean absolutely anything. Maybe the Wenger trend continues and we try to be clever, maybe we get everything we’ve ever wanted.

Who knows. But what we do know is that there are going to be big names and small flying around the rumor-sphere. Two of those names will be Max Meyer and Nabil Fekir. Both have tremendous value to Arsenal and both will cost vastly different figures.

Meyer is leaving FC Schalke on a free and Fekir will likely go for a friendly fee between £50m-£100m. If you remember how frustrating it was to negotiation for Alexandre Lacazette over the course of three years, get ready for an encore.

As such, the fees for these two players are going to be vastly different, but their value to the team is reversed. From a strictly “what can they do for the team” standpoint, Meyer is far more valuable to the current state of this club.

In Meyer, you have a young, German Santi Cazorla, capable of mastering the pivot role with defensive skills he only just discovered this past year.

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The fact that he has creative upside, having long been considered one of the best young attacking midfielders in the game, is just an added bonus. The practicality of the move is what gives it so much value, as he would end up filling a role that no one has, as of yet, been capable of stepping up to.

I love Nabil Fekir and, honestly, hope we get them both. But if I had to choose one, Meyer gets my vote. Fekir has been brilliant, but he would be taking the lions share of whatever transfer war chest we are supposed to be having this year and he would be playing the same position as two of our best players – Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

To expand on that, both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette could find themselves in direct competition as well.

Meaning that the attack, while boasting so many superb names, would be a bit cluttered, and that would inevitably shun some players. Unless the plan is to really make a hard run at the Champions League with an over-stacked attack. Which I think we could all get behind.

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Ideally, we can get them both. But in order of priority, Meyer has to come first.

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