Arsenal: Sampdoria is a magic word in the transfer market

Arsenal are having to get clever to solve their problems, double-dipping where something has already worked is probably a fantastic idea.

Unfortunately, without a budget and with no Champions League, Arsenal are going to have to dig deep and find some clever, off-the-beaten-path deals to bolster their club. But they can’t staff all their vacancies with Ligue 2 players (even though they may try).

So, that being said, revisiting an old success story to try to double (or triple) up on it isn’t a bad idea at all. In fact, it’s a damn good one.

Arsenal’s transfer business last summer was majority wonderful. Of their four purchases, two were from quality Bundesliga outfits and two were, as mentioned, off the beaten path. One from Ligue 2 and one from Sampdoria.

It’s the one from Sampdoria that is going rather well – Lucas Torreira. He was the most expensive signing of last summer, and even still, that price tag was probably a bit low for all the work he’s put in for us.

And now the Gunners are looking to return to Samprodia for more help, this time in the form of midfielder Dennis Praet and centerback Joachim Anderson.

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Honestly, you throw the world “Sampdoria” in there, and it already spruces the deal up, even if these may not be the headlining solutions we may have liked. That’s all because Torreira proved what kind of quality could be found there, and no doubt Torreira had some nice things to say about his former teammates.

Praet doesn’t fit into exactly what we might need in the midfield, being more of a controlling force and not the creative type that we primarily need help with, but there’s no hiding from how important winning and controlling the battle of the midfield was in our successes this year. Praet fits in that capacity.

And Anderson is an enormous centerback. I could stop there and we would all be happy with it, but again, throw in that magic word – Sampdoria – and it immediately kicks up happy memories and the desire to create more happy memories.

Apparently the Gunners have bid for both of them with a combined £42m fee. For what we’re getting, that’s a massive coup, even if it does count for most of our prescribed budget. We still have a lot to sell.

Hard to say anything bad about this rumor. Why wouldn’t we want to try to recreate the Torreira magic, even if it’s never that simple?