Arsenal: In certain context, Alberto Moreno not terrible idea

Arsenal are reportedly interested in signing Alberto Moreno on a free after his Liverpool contract expired. In a certain context, it is not a terrible idea.

Arsenal have a lot of holes to fill this summer. You could make an argument that they have five different positions — reserve right-back, centre-back, left-back, central midfield, winger — to sign players at, and that is before any sales are made and replacements are required.

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They also do not have very much money with which to fill these holes. It is reported that Unai Emery will be handed a measly £40 million budget this summer before player sales, not exactly the £200 million that the Manchester clubs will likely splash out.

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As such, and as Raul Sanllehi noted in his ‘outsmart the market’ comments, Arsenal must be extremely efficient with their investments, finding solutions to their weaknesses that are extremely inexpensive. These solutions will inevitably be imperfect ones, otherwise they would not be cheap. That is the nature of any market, after all. And so, at some positions, compromise will have to be king, which could lead to some rather underwhelming acquisitions made.

All this brings me to Alberto Moreno and the left-back position. With Sead Kolasinac a defensive liability and decreasingly influential offensive weapon and Nacho Monreal’s lack of pace becoming a greater and greater shortcoming with every passing year, there is a need for a natural left-back, especially if Emery wants to implement a back-four based system, as has been the norm throughout his career.

Moreno is an extremely flawed player. He, like Kolasinac, is a defensive liability. His positioning is extremely misguided and he lacks the nous and understanding to ever being close to being a top tier left-back. But you could make an argument that he would better fit a back four with a traditional full-back role than Kolasinac or Monreal, thereby improving the Arsenal team.

In a vacuum, he would not be a good signing, the possibility of which has been tentatively reported this week. But if acquiring Moreno on a free after his summer release from Liverpool freed up funds to invest in other positions, his signing would not be the most terrible idea in the world.

Take this example for instance: you can sign Ben Chilwell for £40 million and not invest in another position or you can sign Moreno for free and have an extra £40 million to put towards a winger or centre-back? This does not make Moreno the perfect signing. Far from it. And there are other players that I would rather see Arsenal target at left-back, Kieran Tierney chief among them.

But in a certain context, signing Moreno is not a completely terrible idea. It may not sound particularly advertising, but there is some logic to it.