Arsenal and Denis Suarez: Quick adaptation the point?

Unai Emery has stated that Denis Suarez is working double-time to adapt to life quickly at Arsenal. But in being a loan signing, isn’t quick adaptation the whole point?

Denis Suarez made his first appearance since signing with Arsenal on the deadline day of the January transfer window last weekend. Coming off the bench against Manchester City, he looked a little short of the required pace and intensity for the Premier League.

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The Spaniard has arrived in north London to provide another versatile attacking body. His positional flexibility is invaluable for a thinning, injury-hit squad, and his ability to play on either flank will come in handy this season.

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Unai Emery was asked about how he is settling into life with his new squad this week. This is what the Arsenal head coach had to say:

"“His adaptation to us and also on Sunday in 25 minutes, in the first days with us, is not with good performance. This week he worked Monday alone here with our coaches and also yesterday and today he’s working with a different adaptation, better than last week. I hope he’s continuing to improve every day. Then he can show in the next matches how he can help us, better than in the first match against Manchester City.”"

Essentially, Suarez didn’t do particularly well versus City but he isn’t worried about that because the work the former Barcelona midfielder is putting in in training is encouraging and is designed to help with a quick adaptation process.

Now, that is all well and good, and I am not here to challenge a fairly elementary truth: Suarez is working hard to fit in. I am sure he is working hard to fit in. It is his job. And he will want to impress with the prospect of a permanent move on the line. But isn’t a quick adaptation process the whole point of his arrival?

It is very easy to look at Suarez’s arrival as a test-run. Because of the summer option to buy, there is a slanting perspective towards this six-month period being nothing more than a trial, ‘try before you buy’, as they say. But, actually, Suarez is not just on a trial. Arsenal do not just want more time to scout him. They need him to help secure a top-four finish and a deep run in the Europa League.

And if that is the case, then him taking three or four months to settle into life at the Emirates is not much good. There is a reason that the Kim Kallstrom deal was ridiculed. Signing a player on six-month loan that cannot help you for the first four months is rather foolish.

I am not willing to judge Suarez after 25 minutes against arguably the best team in the world. That would be completely unreasonable. But he should be up to speed by the end of February. Arsenal will need him, and he must be ready to answer.