Arsenal: Yannick Carrasco pursuit shows self-awareness

Arsenal have reportedly made progress in their pursuit of Yannick Carrasco. Whatever you think about the deal, it does show self-awareness, which is crucial.

Perhaps the most infuriating element of the latter decade under Arsene Wenger was the inability to address key needs of the team. Signing players that play in the positions of weakness is one thing. But what was really infuriating for fans was that Arsenal and Wenger seemingly did not have the awareness to recognise the needs of the team.

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The centre-back, defensive midfield and goalkeeper positions continually undermined the progress of the team. You could trace each back to the mid-2000s, to the days of Sol Campbell, Jens Lehmann and Gilberto Silva. For a decade, each were consistent vulnerabilities, going continually unaddressed.

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It was if Wenger did not know what the problem was, never mind how to fix it. They do say that the first step to solving a problem is admitting there is one in the first place, and it was certainly fair to question whether Wenger was either willing or able to admit and identify the problems that everyone else could clearly see.

Years later, there are now different weaknesses to the squad that need investment. Centre-back is still an issue, but left-back, wing and attacking midfield are also problems that could do with some attention this summer.

It is very positive, then, to see Arsenal seemingly pursue Belgian international Yannick Carrasco heavily. According to former Di Marzio journalist Giovanni Scotto, the Gunners have essentially agreed to a deal with Carrasco and only have to come to a fee with his club, Dalian Yifang, which is expected to be in the region of £25-30 million.

Whatever you think about Carrasco as a player and whether he would be a positive signing, and I certainly have my doubts regarding his attitude and character, what is nice to see is that Unai Emery, Raul Sanllehi at the club are clearly aware of the positions that they need to invest at, and the type of players that they need at those positions.

Last summer, they made a clear attempt to address the defence. The three starting players they signed were a goalkeeper, centre-back and defensive midfielder. Arsenal may not have been successful in fixing the defence — even if the individual players may have played well in their first seasons — but they did know where their problems lay.

Similarly, if the Carrasco reports are to be believed, and I have little reason to doubt them, especially given the January interest, it seems as though the Gunners are once more able to recognise the positions that they need to address.

And that is an unquestioned positive. It shows self-awareness, something that Wenger rarely did during his tenure. Let’s hope this leads to major change.