Arsenal: Dries Mertens signing limited

Arsenal are reportedly pushing to sign Dries Mertens on a free transfer in the summer. While he was a terrific attacking spark for Napoli, the success of the move is extremely limited, to say the least.

Arsenal have made a concerted effort to get younger in recent transfer windows. After signing the 28-year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, acquiring the 28-year-old Henrikh Mkhitaryan in a trade for Alexis Sanchez, and re-signing the 29-year-old Mesut Ozil to a bumper new deal in the space of a week, the club recognised their error: the squad was too old.

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In the summer prior, they signed then 26-year-old Alexandre Lacazette. Not exactly old, but still offering limited re-sale value should he play out the prime of his career in north London. But then came a very noticeable and significant shift in transfer focus.

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In 2018, the club signed 19-year-old Matteo Guendouzi, 22-year-old Lucas Torreira, and 26-year-old Bernd Leno, a goalkeeper, a position that is considered very young at 26. They also added Stephan Lichtsteiner and Sokratis, but both deals were seen as quick-fixes at crucial positions.

Then, in 2019, the Gunners signed 18-year-old Gabriel Martinelli, 22-year-old Kieran Tierney, 18-year-old William Saliba, and 24-year-old Nicolas Pepe. They also acquired David Luiz, 32, but again, that was a short-term deal to fill an immediate need.

And all this comes in a period of increased focus on a vastly talented crop of young players, including Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock, who have established themselves as a part of the first-team rotation. Arsenal have made a certified effort to get younger.

It is this landscape that the reports suggesting that the Gunners have made an approach to sign 32-year-old Dries Mertens on a free-agent deal in the summer surface. Mertens’ contract at Napoli expires at the end of the season and he is now free to discuss terms on a new deal with any foreign team. Given his pedigree, experience, and staggering goal record, including a three-year period from 2016 to 2019 in which he scored 62 goals in 108 Serie A appearances, 22 of which came from off the bench, there is reason to believe that he could be a smart pick-up.

And in the mould of the Luiz, Lichtsteiner and Sokratis signings, Mertens could be a decent acquisition. Aubameyang might well be on his way out, Pepe has not exactly set the league alight, and with Mkhitaryan seemingly out of the picture and Alex Iwobi having been sold in the summer, introducing another productive wide attacker would not go amiss. His being on the cheap only enhances the deal, given Arsenal’s financial struggles and need to invest at other positions.

But that is where the positives end. At 32, Mertens is nothing more than a one or two-year stop-gap solution. He has no re-sale value, could not be relied upon to make regular starts in a league that he has never played in before, and might end up clogging up the squad and stenting the development of Nelson and Bukayo Saka.

If Arsenal believe they need an experienced attacker to round out the squad, they could do a whole lot worse than sign Mertens for nothing. But that type of signing has limited upside. As the club has realised, youth is now the name of the game. Mertens is the opposite of that.