Arsenal: Get Joachim Andersen, forget about Dennis Praet

Arsenal are struggling to complete any signings, so let’s just simplify things, forget about the Sampdoria double deal and just sign Joachim Andersen.

Arsenal really need to get a deal done. Like, all this chatter is getting annoying, and the constant raising of fees by a couple million pounds is proving to be the deterrent that it doesn’t need to be. Take, for instance, the Joachim Andersen/Dennis Praet double deal that, after being raised another £5m, proved to be too much money.

That’s a shame. But there is such an easy solution here. Forget about Dennis Praet and focus on Joachim Andersen. What do you need Praet for anyway? I’ve been asking this for awhile now. Is he replacing Mohamed Elneny? If so, why are we spending so much?

Praet seemed like Unai Emery’s replacement for a potential Granit Xhaka sale, which is an awful idea, but if Xhaka is determined to stay, then Praet serves very little purpose. Unless Emery and the transfer braintrust see Praet as an attacking midfielder, which he has never been.

Joachim Andersen, however, is a different story. A 23-year-old, physically gifted, intelligent centerback who can lock down this porous defense for the long haul? How many ways can we say ‘yes’?

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Andersen on his own is valued at around £23m, according to transfermarkt’s market value of him. But you have to assume that in a double deal that would cost us £50m, with Praet and Andersen being valued at about the same, Andersen would run us £25m.

Which is a completely reasonable price to pay for what we’re getting. Especially considering that Shkodran Mustafi cost us £35m, which will in no way ever be validated.

Joachim Andersen is the defensive solution we’ve been waiting for. If you pair that with William Saliba, you can chalk up the defensive issues as solved. Or, at the very least, you can say that you’ve done all you can until more experimentation is completed.

It doesn’t make sense to me. If you’re going to spend £50m on two players, why not make it two defenders, which you actually need, rather than a defender and the wrong kind of midfielder? Especially if the price is the hold up, in which case, just by the one guy – Andersen. And leave Praet behind.

This transfer window is turning into one hell of a knot, and I hope that it starts to untangle soon.