Arsenal: Time to abandon Ligue 1 transfers?

Arsenal have often targetted French football in the transfer window, but based on recent results, is it time for the club to search elsewhere?

In the past week, prior to the start of the January transfer window, Arsenal have been heavily linked with dynamic Lyon forward Moussa Dembele in the past few weeks. He is currently plying his trade in Ligue 1, but he has been linked with a move to north London since his boyhood years at Celtic.

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He is one of many transfers that Arsenal have completed or been linked to from Ligue 1 in the past decade. While some, like Olivier Giroud, have been successful, others such as Park Chu-young, Yaya Sanogo, and Gervinho have not had the crucial impact that the club hoped for.

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Nicolas Pepe is the latest in a long line of transfers in the Premier League from Ligue 1 who have not had their intended impact right off the bat. Jean Michael Seri was meant to revolutionize the midfield of a Fulham side recently injected with cash. They were relegated nine months later. His partner, Andre Zambo Anguissa, wasn’t exactly convincing either. Pepe is a different case, of course, because I believe he will eventually flourish, but he’s not the only one.

Tanguy Ndombele has been inconsistent for Spurs. Injuries have riddled Benjamin Mendy’s City career has been underwhelming, and he is incredibly error-prone. Allan Saint-Maximin and Ismaila Sarr have been inconsistent at best at Newcastle and Watford respectively. In the increasingly physical nature of the Premier League, Ligue 1 players are finding decreasing success in England. For all of their natural talents, they cannot keep up with the pace of the game.

Arsenal have, in recent years, found great success in the transfer window. They have also invested their future, for the time being, in Ligue 1. About one-third of their transfers have stemmed from France. Alexandre Lacazette, Matteo Guendouzi, Pepe, and William Saliba are the future of the team and all hail from French domestic football. But is it fair to worry about the relative success rates of Ligue 1 players in the top flight of English football?

Much of what Gooners maligned about Arsene Wenger was his laissez-faire approach which prioritized style over substance. It is a quintessentially French style of football, one still practised in Ligue 1. In the past five years, Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain have made it to a semi-final, two quarter-finals, and two Rounds of 16 in total in the Champions League. And both teams have benefitted from huge and anomalous injections of cash or wild youth developments that are also irreplicable. Teams from England, Spain, Germany, and Italy have dominated the competition, along with the Europa League. France is falling behind.

Of the France team that won the 2018 World Cup, eight players of the 23-man squad played in the French league. A year-and-a-half later, that number is five. The best French players are seeking greater heights elsewhere in Europe, with the rest collecting at a PSG team which, despite boasting one of the strongest rosters and best coaches in the world, has lacked confidence and success in recent years.

Speaking of rosters, look at those of Liverpool and Manchester City. City draft heavily from Spain and Portugal, with the gaps being filled by the best overall talent that the Premier League has to offer. Liverpool take a different approach, augmenting their heavily homegrown setup with prospects from the German and Austrian leagues completing their hard-pressing style to perfection. It might not be too egregious to claim Arsenal have looked in the wrong places for success.

It is time to finally leave behind Arsene Wenger’s french priorities. Leave behind the Yaya Sanogo’s and Park Chu-young’s of the world. Move into the new hierarchy of world football. In order to move this club forward, Arsenal need to look farther than just across the Channel.