Arsenal: Nabil Fekir needed to put the pressure on our biggest problem

Arsenal need to start sweeping up their first team ranks, and landing someone like Nabil Fekir would be perfect to start dropping unmissable hints.

Nabil Fekir has been linked with Arsenal for years, but in typical Lyon fashion, they never wanted to let him go for anything less than an outlandish fee. But then again, if you account for 26 Ligue 1 goals as an attacking midfielder, maybe you’re deserving of something a bit outlandish.

That said, Liverpool were ready to pay that fee until a botched medical caused the deal to fall through, and now Fekir is still sitting in Ligue 1 with one year left on his deal and Lyon are at the point where they’re willing to let him go for £30m.

The perks are all lining up in a row for this move, as the Gunners stand to lose absolutely nothing by spending a moderate fee on a creative attacker right on the cusp of his prime years. He fits the exact role we need most without breaking the bank, and I don’t see why this can’t happen.

But it’s the other added perk that has me the most excited—this perk that maybe, just maybe, some other guys will start taking the hint and head for the exit.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

Mesut Ozil has an emotional attachment to the Emirates and, to his credit, he’s tried to make it here, he’s not given up, but what this all comes down to is not jiving with the style that Unai Emery wants to put forth.

All season long, Emery was so determined to avoid playing Ozil simply because he didn’t fit in, but for lack of better options, he had no choice but to keep giving him chances in the hopes that maybe he could put together some semblance of usefulness.

He didn’t.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is much the same, though I don’t think he is clinging to his spot on the team quite as fiercely as Mesut Ozil is.

But if Fekir were to arrive, a player half a decade their younger and with so much more to look forward to at the Emirates, maybe they could take a hint and start seeing themselves to the door for greener pastures. Of which there are plenty. They are talented players who just haven’t cut it at the Emirates. That doesn’t mean that they won’t find their form somewhere else where they are actually playing.

Bring in Fekir, ship out everyone that would sit behind him and soak up wages. Seems simple enough, doesn’t it?