Arsenal: Ivan Perisic is not enough for top four finish

Arsenal are being heavily tied to Ivan Perisic, but he is not enough to ensure a finish in the top four of the Premier League this season.

Ivan Perisic has been linked to join Arsenal over the last few days. The jury is still split on whether or not the Croatian winger would be a good addition to the squad. Many feel he could help the club reach the Champions League for next year while others believe he is not quite the missing piece needed to get the club back in the top four—I subscribe to the latter.

Perisic is a quality player. There is no denying that. His qualities were on display at the World Cup, and although he has had a down season for Inter Milan this year, he would still be a great upgrade on our current winger options.

He is a great crosser of the ball, dribbles at defenders, and is a great defensive winger (which would help Sead Kolasinac out greatly).

The problem with Perisic isn’t the money or the age (though paying nearly £40m for a 30-year old is never good business). The problem is that Perisic is *potentially* being brought in to bring us back to the Champions League. Everyone knows that, ultimately, that is all that matters this season. I don’t think that Perisic is enough to ensure Champions League qualification.

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We saw last week that Manchester United is still a very talented squad (now that Mourinho is gone). Though we recently beat Chelsea, they are still ahead of us in the table and also a talented squad. Arsenal is going to have to fight tooth and nail the rest of the season to hope to finish in the top four. Some might argue we should focus on winning the Europa League to qualify, but that is relying on putting all your eggs in one basket—a strategy I don’t agree with.

Arsenal’s clear vulnerability, and likely the reason they might not finish in the top four, is the defense. Before the January window, this club was being stretched thin at the back. Now, with Rob Holding and Hector Bellerin out for the year, Sokratis out for a month, Laurent Koscielny being evaluated constantly, Konstantinos Mavropanos just coming back from a long stretch on the sidelines, the club has almost no options at the back. The weakest part of the squad is somehow even weaker now.

This is my problem with the Perisic transfer. He is a quality player, one I would welcome at the Emirates for the right price. However, as cliché as this sounds since it’s all transfer twitter is filled with, he cannot play centerback. Arsenal needed to use this January window to bring in defensive reinforcements. The defense is why we’re currently sitting 5th in the table. It is what would make finishing top four a little easier.

There are still three days left in the transfer window. Maybe the board can pull off a miracle and bring in some defensive reinforcements. If not, let’s hope we get a little bit of luck the rest of the way.