Arsenal: I’d take Denis Suarez over Mesut Ozil

Arsenal’s creative attacking situation needs help, and it’s so bad that I would happily take Denis Suarez as a Mesut Ozil replacement.

Years down the road, there’s a good chance that no one will even remember those couple of months that Denis Suarez spent at Arsenal. And how could you? He never started a match. His biggest highlight was a friendly in Dubai when he played 90 minutes and, supposedly, played well.

Or that one video of him scoring a slick goal in training. Or that one time he dragged Luke Shaw to the ground after coming on as a sub.

As you can see, all things that, in the grand scheme, aren’t a big deal. He got hurt, somehow, went back to Barcelona, and that was that, everything was back where it started and next to nothing had changed.

But given the current state of this club, I would take Suarez on a permanent deal right this moment if he was being touted as the replacement to Mesut Ozil.

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Ozil had all year to prove himself. All damn year. And aside from a match here and there, he failed on a grand scale in every possible way. HIs wages (not his fault, but still annoying) continue to sap away at the club’s limited resources and I have zero hope in him being able to turn this around at any point in the future.

It’s so bad, and Unai Emery realizes it, that the club may have to take a bite out of Ozil’s wages in order to convince other teams to even spend money on him.

That’s how bad it is.

Denis Suarez never had a chance to show what he could do. Little improvements sprouted up in the small capacity that he was used, and just as he was nearing inclusion, he left.

Ozil is not nearing inclusion. He’s used because Emery has no other option. And at his age, there isn’t that much that is going to change. Denis Suarez, however, at least gives us something to look forward to, as he’s still young and his track record would indicate that he can do all the things that we never got to see him do.

The point of all this is that we don’t have to think that hard about replacing Ozil. Hell, I’d let Emile Smith Roe or Joe Willock replace him too. As long as he gets replaced.