Arsenal: Defenders clearly on the minds of next in charge

Arsenal are town between two technical directors, but it’s clear that whoever they get, their priorities are one in the same.

Ever since Sven Mislintat left the club for not being considered for the Technical Director position, Arsenal have had two potential candidates on the mind. Former Unai Emery compatriot Monchi is one of them, and Gunner legend Marc Overmars is the other.

Monchi is set to leave Roma already, while Overmars is reportedly being denied and early exit from Ajax. But a lot can happen in the time between now and when Arsenal announce their choice, and regardless of who they choose, it’s clear that both candidates are speaking directly to the hearts of the Arsenal faithful.

Monchi has indicated that he would make Juventus defender Daniele Rugani a top priority, while Marc Overmars has indicated that, wherever he goes, Matthijs De Ligt will be his primary target. Both centerbacks, both young, both have been tied to the Gunners for quite some time.

Are we sensing a theme here? No matter how much the headlines tell us that the Gunners are looking for a winger as their top target, their next Technical Director is clearly of a different mind, favoring a solution to the defense before they sort out an attack that has been far more prolific this year than the defense.

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Thankfully, the defense hasn’t been as bad as it might have been, thanks largely to the dual efforts of Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis. But therein we see the reason why defense should be thet op priority – they are both over 30.

Not to mention Sokratis has yellow card issues and Koscielny has had recurring injury issues since returning from his ACL tear.

The need to push this defense into a younger spectrum is absolutely crucial. At most, we can get one more year out of the current pairing, because Koscielny plans to leave after that anyway, meaning that Rob Holding and Konstantinos Mavropanos will take center stage. While I’m a huge fan of both of them, getting a proven commodity like De Ligt or Rugani would be a massive boost to sorting out this defense for a good long while.

Obviously, my priority is De Ligt, because he is everyone’s priority, given the talent level of the guy, but Rugani has been touted for quite some time, and there’s a reason he is carrying a near-four-year link to a move to the Emirates.

Whatever the case, the prerogative is clear – sort out this defense, because the attack is in pretty decent shape.