Arsenal: Nacho Monreal future must be handled practically

Nacho Monreal is an Arsenal favorite, but in order for his future to be at the Emirates beyond this year, his worth must be assessed practically.

I am all for not having to spend money unnecessarily. Arsenal already have a perpetual budget problem that never seems to go away (although it is supposedly going to disappear next summer), so all money must be used strictly on clear needs.

Leftback isn’t necessarily a clear and obvious need. I can hear the groans already, because I know a lot of people identify leftback as a big need, but on our expansive to-do list, leftback is certainly represented, but not at the top.

The thing with leftback is it really depends on Nacho Monreal and what the approach is with his future. Despite what is happening with Aaron Ramsey, I do trust the people in charge of contract negotiations, and if they think that Monreal can be trusted to a serious role with the club, meaning that he deserves a new contract, than I’m not one to argue.

He and Sead Kolasinac are a really good duo. The problem is health issues. Monreal has not gone a season without missing at least 10 days since joining the Gunners.

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Kolasinac, meanwhile, has missed more in his time at Arsenal than he missed in his last two years at Schalke. Aside from his Cruciate Ligament rupture in 2014, he hasn’t had a serious injury to speak of.

That said, the injury spattering is an issue that needs to be considered when thinking of the Nacho Monreal contract situation. Do we trust these two to stay healthy to the point that it isn’t stressful?

Frankly, I don’t think so. Which is why I wonder if it wouldn’t be more practical to offload Monreal and find a younger leftback, who is capable of playing more games, but also ready in the present day, and has less of an injury history.

All you need are two healthy leftbacks, but we can’t seem to guarantee that. So if Monreal were to stay, the key would be paying him reasonably to be a serious rotational option, like Lichtsteiner is now. That is something I could wrap my head around, plus it would mean we could retain a fan favorite, but we can’t even think about this as “retaining a fan favorite.”

This is a team that needs to operate based on practicality, not emotion. That is the big change that we are all so excited about and it has to be adhered to here as well.