Arsenal: Sergio Rico an investment for the future, and the past

Arsenal’s keeper situation is not as easy to fix as it seems, but Sergio Rico creates an understated option that may prove to be quite the solution.

Arsenal need to solve their keeper situation. Between Petr Cech‘s fading reliability and David Ospina‘s enigmatic ways, the need for someone that can be trusted at the back is the most pressing since Manuel Almunia.

But it’s not such an easy solution. Especially not with such a cut-rate transfer budget that doesn’t allow for much ‘overspending.’

In order to ensure that the keeper situation is improving, you would have to overspend on someone like Jan Oblak. As that is not an option, the best solution is to think outside of the box (not literally).

This goes without saying, but key is to find someone who actually improves on what we have. We can’t just go sign someone and say “alright, job done.” There has to be a reason behind the signing, proof that he can be better than what we have.

Which, again, is tough to do, especially from a keeper standpoint, because every defensive situation is different and numbers can be deceiving for keepers, particularly when you start looking at saves and clean sheets, because that does not take into account the type of situation the defense left their keeper in.

Like I said, it’s hard to guarantee an upgrade unless you go prolific, which the Gunners likely cannot do.

There had been two major options, both from Germany – Timo Horn and Bernd Leno. The former has the better numbers because he faced far more shots, the latter has some underwhelming numbers, but a track record of being much better.

Neither is a guarantee. Enter Sergio Rico.

24-years-old and someone who has previously played under Unai Emery, Rico is what you could call an investment in the future. But it’s also an investment into the past that he had with Unai Emery.

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In the two years that Sergio Rico had with Unai Emery, he put up some fantastic numbers. In both the 2014/15 and the 2015/16 season, Rico averaged 2.30 saves per goal. That’s double what Bernd Leno averaged this past year. It was far better than Petr Cech this year and he even made more saves than Jan Oblak – again, going back to his time under Unai Emery.

Those were Rico’s two best years, statistically speaking. He has since fallen on harder times. This past year in particular was not flattering. While he still produced better numbers than Leno, he was nowhere near Oblak and even fell short of Cech.

But again, we have to think bigger picture here. Some players just play better under certain managers, and history would tell us that Sergio Rico is at his best under Unai Emery, and his best, as a young 20-something goal-keeper, is as good as some of the best in the game.

Meaning that, as the club moves forward, it is perfectly reasonable to think that he can improve on those numbers under Emery and become the keeper that we need him to be.

The only question that remains, then, is price. If Leno is going to cost £20m+, then Rico can be further justified by a smaller transfer price. While no figures have been tossed about, transfermarkt has him listed at around £15m. Which, when you consider all of what I have just pointed out, makes him stand out as the best option the Gunners can pursue.

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He’s young, he’s an Emery product, he’s proven he can be better than what we have. I don’t see what else needs to be discussed. Sign him up.

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