Arsenal and Samuel Umtiti: Is he worth everything?

Arsenal are being linked with a move for Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti. But the centre-back will probably wipe out all of their budget. Is he worth it?

It is fairly well-known that Arsenal do not have the greatest of budgets to splash this summer. It was first reported in early-March that Unai Emery would be handed as little as £45 million to spend, a figure dwarfed by the riches of the Manchester clubs, the Gunners’ direct rivals.

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More money could be generated through qualification for the Champions League and player sales, but it is not a remotely competitive amount of money in the increasingly eye-watering modern market. As a result, Raul Sanllehi and the club will have to be extremely careful with their investments. They cannot afford to be wasteful.

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So when it comes to spending big on one or two players, they must be absolutely sure that they are worth it. Should Arsenal sign a player for £50 million-plus, they would be blowing their whole budget on that one player. To make that kind of move, they must be completely and utterly convinced that that player is worth the investment. Any doubt, and the move should not be completed.

And this is the hesitance I have with the Samuel Umtiti links. The Gunners have reportedly held talks with Barcelona. With the centre-half seemingly set to be out the picture in the summer assuming Mathijs de Ligt arrives at the Nou Camp as is widely expected, and given Sanllehi’s contact with Barcelona, there is some reason to understand where these reports have stemmed from.

But the question of value still has to be asked. Given the number of needs that the current squads had, with several different positions requiring significant investment, would it be wise to splash all of the budget on just Umtiti?

There are some players that may be worth such a sacrifice. If Arsenal were to somehow sign Nicolas Pepe at the expense of adding anyone else, I would perhaps argue that he would be worth it. But I am not sure that Umtiti is the same calibre of player and would have the same impact on the team.

While a World Cup-winner and an extremely capable defender, with ongoing knee problems and doubts over his consistency, Umtiti is not the slam-dunk, world-class centre-back that some believe him to be. A very good player that would improve Emery’s options at the position, absolutely. But is he worth the whole budget?

Because that is what it will take to sign him. And I am not sure that that would be wise.