Arsenal: Ricardo Rodriguez a practical kind of overkill

Arsenal are suddenly linked to former transfer target Ricardo Rodriguez. It seems like overkill, but it’s the best kind – it’s practical.

Arsenal aren’t likely to make many more big name signings this summer, barring any drastic changes or sales. I think we can all accept that and, honestly, I think we can all be pretty okay with it too, given how solid the summer has been.

Which is why the sudden link to AC Milan leftback Ricardo Rodriguez seems like a major dose of overkill. The guy is going to cost £30m and he plays a position that three other guys play on the team.

But that is on the surface alone. Underneath that impracticality, there is a massive helping of the opposite – practicality.

The leftback position may look packed for the Gunners, but that isn’t entirely true. Sead Kolasinac is hurt, and he will be for two months at least. Not to mention that he gets hurt pretty frequently, since we’ve signed him, and as such, it’s hard to rely too much on his presence when it is far from a guarantee.

Nacho Monreal is on his way out. Maybe not this summer, but soon. The Premier League is an unforgiving place, and Monreal is being exposed more and more in recent years, despite pleasant flourishes on a successful stay at the club.

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That leaves Ainsley Maitland-Niles who, while certainly talented, doesn’t want a future at leftback, nor should we ask it of him. He is a midfielder, and he should be stuck in the midfield at every possible opportunity.

Which leaves, well, nobody. Except Rodriguez.

The Swiss international is only 25, he has long been a target of the Gunners, he is a close friend of Granit Xhaka and has that same international tie to Stephan Lichtsteiner, and that counts for more than a bit in the chemistry department.

Not to mention he’s just damn good. His left foot is a rocket, he exercises the entirety of the left flank and he absolutely counts himself as one of the best at what he does. There is a reason he was linked to us two years ago. We went with Kolasinac instead and I’m happy with that, but now that we are getting a clearer picture of what we have at this position, it is deceptively thin.

Rodriguez is the perfect bolster for that. The perfect capstone to a solid spattering of options.