Arsenal and Steven N’Zonzi: Piss or get off the pot

Arsenal’s midfield is a beautiful thing on paper right now, yet Steven N’Zonzi is hanging around. Either wrap this up or move on to other things.

I couldn’t be happier with the state of this Arsenal midfield going into next season. Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira are going to tear things up. They cover so many angles of the game, and so many that not many other teams boast.

Then you have Ainsley Maitland-Niles to provide potential dynamism coming off the bench and Mohamed Elneny to ensure some added solidity. It’s beautiful.

Yet Steven N’Zonzi is lingering in the rumor spectrum with his ridiculous £35m release clause from Sevilla and his reported desperation to reunited with Unai Emery.

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I think I’ve made my opinion on N’Zonzi perfectly clear but just in case I haven’t, let me say it again – sign him up with a firm ceiling of doing what Francis Coquelin did. Defend leads, enforce the law, and that’s it.

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That is not worth his release clause. That is hardly worth half of his release clause. Which is why I can’t get over how much he is hanging out, going nowhere.

Piss or get off the pot. Either sign the guy up for way under his release clause, or, if you can’t, move on. And given how much under his release clause we are aiming for, I think you’d be getting a pretty good indication if Sevilla are up for such a move or not.

After all, it’s not like the Gunners are just trying to chip a few million off. At least they better not be. We need to be seeing a tiny price tag for a 29-year-old rotational option with minimum upside. Because that’s all that N’Zonzi would be and I’ll argue that point with anyone who cares to enter the ring.

If Sevilla are willing to sell for a minimal fee, then great, let’s sign the guy up and add some more steel to a budding midfield. But if they aren’t willing, which should be incredibly obvious, then move on, there is no point in dawdling.

Combative midfielders like N’Zonzi aren’t that popular anymore, and it’s because of guys like Lucas Torreira and N’Golo Kante, who use speed and athleticism to win then ball back rather than brute strength.

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So basically, what I’m trying to say is that we’re getting the better option, don’t you worry about that.