Arsenal: Sure, Daniele De Rossi, because Lichtsteiner worked so well

Arsenal have been advised to bring in Daniele De Rossi on a free, but this only makes sense as far as Stephan Lichtsteiner made sense.

I actually find myself agreeing with Ian Wright more times than not. Of all the endless talking heads out there with opinions about Arsenal, he usually comes out looking quite intelligent, but this one… this one I just don’t get.

Wrighty has encouraged the Gunners to bring in 35-year-old Roma captain Daniele De Rossi on a free. The venerated Roma man just saw his contract run up and, despite wanting to retire a one-club man, he will now be seeking new frontiers, with MLS standing out as a potential option.

Or, if you’re Ian Wright, Arsenal as a potential option as well.

De Rossi is a midfield controller who sits deeper in that midfield and dictates the flow of the game. He’s gruff, tough, and doesn’t stand for any nonsense, and I get why that mentality would come across as attractive, but in this situation, it’s just not.

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Mostly because we tried the exact same thing with Stephan Lichtsteiner this year, and very little came of it other than having a spot on the bench taken up.

To be fair, I was quite excited when we got Lichtsteiner. So much experience, so much perspective, and he was a mean guy. All things that this club needed more of. But it became so obvious so quickly that he just didn’t have the gumption to play in the Premier League. He moved from rightback to right centerback to accommodate his diminishing speed, but even that wasn’t enough to boost his immediate value.

I’m sure he had his uses in the locker room, but with the club having to get so creative to get viable options, having to accommodate a 35-year-old deep midfielder far past his prime doesn’t sound like a good use of time or resources.

Plus, Wrighty wants him as a guide for Joe Willock. That’s fine and dandy, these kids need guides, but at the cost of having another viable first-team midfielder like Dennis Praet? No thanks. They have guidance in their coaches and there will be plenty of experience on the team to share. We don’t need to go out of the way to get more.

De Rossi would be Lichtsteiner all over again. That’s all I can think of to say, and I don’t think I need to say any more.