Arsenal: Denis Suarez inadvertently improving squad

Game time has been hard to come by for Denis Suarez since joining Arsenal. However, despite his lack of minutes, he has inadvertently improved the team.

Denis Suarez joined up with Arsenal in the January transfer window on a loan with an option to buy from FC Barcelona. Since joining the club, his playing time has been short of what he would have wanted when coming in, which is unfortunate given his undeniable quality. However, the reason for the Spaniard’s lack of playing time is actually due to the inadvertent impact of signing him in the first place.

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Let me explain. Since Suarez walked through the doors of the Emirates stadium for the first time, the players who play in a similar role to him have stepped up their own respective performances massively. Suarez was expected to fill the holes in the wide positions. But those holes have not been so gaping due to other players improving.

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The most notably improved player since Suarez joined the club on a temporary basis is Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Mkhitaryan has seemingly rediscovered the player that was left at Borussia Dortmund when Manchester United signed him in 2017. That player also seemed to have missed the train to London at first as well, unfortunately. However, the Armenian has now hit a great run of form and Unai Emery is in a position where he has to pick him for the starting XI every week. Suarez, as a result, has been left stranded.

And Mkhitaryan is not the only player that has stepped their game up since seeing Suarez join the ranks though. Two players along with Mkhitaryan that have struck a rich vein of form recently are Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil. Both have seen themselves getting more game time than they were handed earlier in the year and they have rewarded such decisions with excellent performances.

Ozil especially appeared to have been frozen out of the squad on a permanent basis, but something must have given him a kick up the backside that awoke the true magician that we all know he is capable of being. Perhaps it was the introduction of Suarez.

The option to buy Suarez from Barcelona on a permanent basis is said to be around £20 million. In theory, he would be a great option to have on the bench. A player of his quality with that price tag is an absolute steal. However, the club is said to have a limited budget going into the summer transfer window and an attacking midfielder is certainly not a priority given the players they already have.

Even though Ramsey is confirmed to be leaving for Juventus at the end of the season, with the resurgence of Mkhitaryan, Ozil and the return of young stars like Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson, as well as the continued versatility of Alex Iwobi, further depth in the attacking midfield position is not what is required.

Suarez has done a lot for Arsenal off the pitch, from the bench. But whether or not he should be signed permanently cannot be determined until he is granted a sufficient amount of game time. And, at present, he will not be given such an opportunity.