Arsenal: Defensive knot the hardest task for this summer

Arsenal have so many defenders, but so little defensive stability. This will be the hardest knot to untangle in the summer transfer window.

Arsenal‘s list of things to do this summer is pretty straightforward. Sign some wingers. Replace Aaron Ramsey as best as you can. Sell a lot of players. And finally, figure out what the hell to do with the mess at defense.

Let me try to break it down for you in the simplest way possible, despite the fact that there is nothing simple about this defensive situation.

Our two best defenders are Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis. They are both over 30, Koscielny figures to be leaving the club either this summer or next. There’s no future there. And Sokratis doesn’t have much longer either. Even still, we can count on Sokratis. And that’s a start.

Nacho Monreal is 33, he should be leaving, and he shouldn’t really be in the picture anyway. Alright then, that was easy enough. Now let’s talk about the middle of the park.

Shkodran Mustafi, still young enough, figures to be sold, but if he does stay, God help us.

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Then there is the youth. Calum Chambers is coming back, but let’s chalk him up as a utility midfielder at this point, with the potential to lock down a role in our midfield as the season goes forward.

Rob Holding needed this past year to solidify his growth, but he didn’t get it, so now we have figure out how ready he is to be counted on, and how ready we are to compensate if he proves to not yet be ready.

Okay, moving forward. Konstantinos Mavropanos wants to get into the picture more, but this season was a huge missed opportunity thanks to annoying injuries that wouldn’t leave him alone. You’d hate to block him further without giving him a chance to prove to be a solution.

The same can almost be said for Krystian Bielik, who is coming back from a fantastic loan and will be hungry to get into the first team picture at the one position where they need the most help.

So there, in that mix, we have three senior defenders, one of which we can count on for a lot of minutes – Sokratis. We have Mustafi, who is so far from reliable. We have Holding, Chambers and Mavropanos who will be hungry to prove themselves, but may have trouble getting around new signings.

We have guys like Krystian Bielik and Zech Medley who want to make strides. That’s nine defenders in total, only one of which I think we can say is definitively good for 2500 minutes.

It’s not that we don’t have anyone, it’s that we have too many question marks. Get the machete in there and start chopping away at this knot. And good luck with it.