Arsenal: Medhi Benatia carrying the mediocre January mantra

Arsenal need defensive help, and while I didn’t think that mean throwing mediocre solutions at it, that seems to be the mantra of the January window.

Well, when Unai Emery first spoke up about Arsenal‘s prospects in this transfer window, he wasn’t exactly very optimistic. He dodged the questions without really focusing in on any potential solutions.

The next time, however, he got more specific and did say that they were looking for defensive help and help on the wings for the final four months of the season. Now we’re talking, right?

But the problem is the budget. That budget that, as has recently been shown, receives no help from Stan Kroenke. Everything that this club will buy will come from operational revenue and player sales. Which is why, surprise surprise, swap deals have yet again hit the radar, because nothing while one swap (last January) was unlikely, two swaps must certainly be realistic.

This new swap is a supposed maneuver to justify letting Aaron Ramsey go in January, as opposed to holding on to him until the end of the year, when he walks for free.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

And the man coming in the opposite direction? Medhi Benatia, who has been linked perpetually with the Gunners for about three years.

Benatia is the odd ball out of a stoic Juventus defense. He doesn’t play very often, mostly because he is always hurt, but at the end of the day, he has been a solid rotational option for the Serie A defense which ranks as one of the best in the world.

At 31 years old, this isn’t a move for longevity. We’d be lucky to get a couple years out of him before we have to start talking about actual solutions for the long-term, and in those ideal couple of good years, we’d need him to stay healthy.

Which is just to show that there are so many variables swirling around Benatia, making a move for him somewhat… well, skeptical.

He’s a mediocre option. He’s not exciting, but he isn’t a dud. He’d be relatively cheap, not unlike Denis Suarez, and he isn’t going to be viewed by many as an actual solution.

Keep in mind, though, that this is exactly how Sokratis was viewed before he solidified himself as exactly what this defense needed (on an individual basis, we obviously still need more). Who’s to say Benatia wouldn’t put in a fantastic two or three years with the Gunners?