Arsenal: Giorgio Chiellini is just another Stephan Lichtsteiner

Arsenal’s defensive solutions aren’t good enough for some people. Some people want Giorgio Chiellini next. But doesn’t Stephan Lichtsteiner do the same?

Arsenal‘s defense was in dire need of some fixing after last season. But it didn’t look to be the type of problem that you just purchase someone to fix. It was deeper than that. The mental mistakes were unlike anything we’d seen in some time.

But the personnel was promising, if not sufficient enough already to enact any changes that Unai Emery saw fit in his new regime. With so many quality, young defenders, it made sense to see what we already had at our disposal before we went all-out on finding a suitable solution.

Still, rather than risk more of a letdown, the Gunners went after Sokratis. He is, like it or not, the solution to the club’s problems. Whether he actually solves it or not is yet to be seen, but it stands to reason that if solutions do come, it won’t be solely Sokratis that brings them.

And yet, even with this knowledge at hand, some want to see more “solutions” being purchased. The name that has since been tossed about is long-time Juventus and Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

Now 33 years old, Chiellini is a battle-hardened veteran, but it’s not his on the pitch uses that would be his primary draw. His primary draw would be his no-nonsense, hard-nosed mentality that would, ideally, scare everyone. Including his teammates into not making so many mental mistakes.

That all sounds great. I’m for it. Everyone is for it.

But we already accomplished it in Stephan Lichtsteiner. The Swiss rightback has that same mentality as his former teammate at Juve. There’s a reason that team’s defense was so good. It had a shared vision.

Lichtsteiner brings that mindset to the club already. Chiellini could hypothetically double down on it, but he may end up being a bit excessive. We don’t want to block these young players. We want them to learn to be hard-nosed and no-nonsense themselves. Hence Lichtsteiner.

Chiellini would be thrown into a crowded set-up where he wouldn’t exactly get a whole lot of playing time and if he did, again, he’d be blocking key players that we want to be developing for the long haul.

Next: Arsenal Complete 2017/18 Player Ratings

That is something that does not sound great. Everyone might not be against it, but they should be. I only want Chiellini if it’s with clear expectations over limited playing time. I doubt that can be guaranteed.

Home/Arsenal Transfer Rumours