Arsenal: Medhi Benatia making this whole philosophy a joke
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal are supposed to be giving youth a chance, yet the only players they are talking to are old centerbacks, where our youth is most prevalent.
Stop. Stop. Stop. All of this talk about landing these 30+ defenders that Arsenal certainly don’t need and ousting a youthful infusion of defensive talent needs to stop. I already don’t like going after Sokratis, but if we want a veteran, fine let’s do it. I can think of plenty others, but I’ll trust Sven Mislintat.
Adding Medhi Benatia to the team alongside is enough to drive me nuts. He’s 31 years old, he’s had injury problems for the past several years and while yes, he has his qualities, as does everyone, he offers nothing more than the club already has.
Wasn’t it just a couple weeks ago that Ivan Gazidis was talking about adding youth? Isn’t it Mislintat’s M.O. to uncover young talents ready for the next level, such as Caglar Soyuncu, rather than piling on old, over-the-hill players that are clinging to one last hope of staying at the top level of football?
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As it stands, the Gunners have their defensive problems. Obviously. But tossing a bunch of 30+ year olds at the problem when you could just allow the natural order to do its thing seems so counter-intuitive that it makes my head spin.
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Despite what the media narrative is telling you, Calum Chambers is ready. Do yourself a favor and rewatch him. He’s composed, no-nonsense, and strong. He’s a beast in the air, he’s positive with the ball. What more do you want?
And Konstantinos Mavropanos? Who wasn’t completely sold on this lad? Who didn’t want more of him because everything we saw early on was positive?
Don’t count out Rob Holding either. The kid had his problems and shouldn’t be a starter, but burying him under Sokratis and Benatia doesn’t seem like its conducive to literally anything, not the present or the future. Or the past.
Again, if the idea is to get a veteran in here, great. Nab one, call it a day, let him help guide this youth corps of defenders to the next level. But accept that Chambers probably doesn’t need that guidance. Completely undoing all the progress that these young defenders are making in order to satiate some bizarre need for complete defensive changes is foolish.
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Thankfully, it’s only a rumor. And as we know, rumors don’t often have much grounding in reality. Let’s hope that’s the case here.