Arsenal: It’s not about Denis Suarez not being ready

Denis Suarez is yet to make a start for Arsenal. Unai Emery has said he is ready for Monday night’s match against Newcastle United. But his lack of playing time is not because he isn’t ready. It’s because he isn’t good enough.

In January, Arsenal needed a winger. Everyone knew it. The fans shouted about it. The club scoured high and low for one. The pundits cried for moves to be made. It was not a secret. And in the end, the need was filled. Kind of.

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Denis Suarez was eventually signed on a six-month loan deal with an option to buy in the summer. The Barcelona attacker had fallen out of favour at the Nou Camp and was an ideal, short-term gap-filler for the Gunners.

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But now, two months into his stay in north London, Suarez is yet to make a start, featuring in fewer than 100 minutes in all competitions. Maybe he wasn’t needed after all?

At first, the explanation for his seeming exclusion was that he needed to adapt to English football. Other than a brief youth spell with Manchester City, he had never played football in Britain. And the Premier League is a unique league with special physical challenges that can throw off more continental players.

And this week, Unai Emery finally announced that Suarez is ready to start a match. In his pre-match press conference prior to Monday night’s match against Newcastle United, Emery said:

"“I think yes [Denis Suarez is doing well]. I think he is okay for starting in the first 11 or for giving us this impact after. But I think now, our focus is collectively very strongly focused on helping in 90 minutes, or 50 minutes, or one minute. We are going to need every player for the next matches.”"

The problem, though, is that I do not believe Emery. I do believe that he is ready to start. And I do believe that he is doing better than when he first arrived. But Suarez’s lack of playing time has not stemmed from his unreadiness, whether he actually be unready or not. Even if he was fully prepared, he would not be handed many starts. The reason? He isn’t good enough.

Suarez is not a bad player, per se. You do not get brought to Barcelona if you are. And Emery vouched for him this January after working with him at Sevilla a few years ago. But Mesut Ozil rediscovered his brilliance, Henrikh Mkhitaryan returned from injury with tremendous sharpness, and Alex Iwobi has continued his excellent form.

Suddenly, the presumed desperate need for a winger wasn’t really there. You see, the need that everyone espoused, myself included, was not a numbers or depth issue. It was a quality one. Arsenal did not need a higher quantity of wingers necessarily, they needed a higher quality, something Suarez could not really provide.

So even though Suarez is now ready for first-team action, to make starts for Arsenal, do not expect to see him taking to the field from the start any time soon. Put simply, there are other players that are better than him. And that, really, is that.