Arsenal: Bukayo Saka makes Layvin Kurzawa null and void

Arsenal youngster Bukayo Saka has performed phenomenally well as an emergency left-back. His presence makes any move for Layvin Kurzawa null and void.

The January transfer window is rarely the best time to invest heavily in the squad. Teams don’t want to sell their key players halfway through a campaign, the price rockets as a result, and very few deals are done. Thus far, the biggest fee paid for a Premier League signing is £8.5 million by Aston Villa for Mbwana Samatta from Genk.

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Arsenal are notoriously hesitant to spend in January. Arsene Wenger never liked the winter window and advocated for just one transfer window per season that shut before the season got underway, while Head of Football Raul Sanllehi has also expressed his hesitancy to spend in January.

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But if there are smart deals to be done in the January window, they are often of the form of an emergency fill-in, someone who can play in a particular position of need for the latter half of the season, especially if a team is on the edge of achieving a specific goal.

For Arsenal, their greatest position of need at present is left-back. Despite signing two left-backs since 2017, including a £25 million investment last summer, they currently have no fit left-back in the squad. Sead Kolasinac is struggling with a left thigh problem is set to be out until after the February break, while Kieran Tierney dislocated his shoulder in late December and is not expected to return to training until mid-March, his match availability likely not coming before April.

There had been plenty of talk regarding a potential move for unwanted Paris Saint-Germain left-back Layvin Kurzawa. The 27-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and will leave the French champions after being unseated from the starting role. The Gunners were hoping to sign him on a free transfer, though reports now state that PSG are looking for €5 million, £4.2 million.

At surface level, the deal makes sense. Kurzawa is an experienced left-back who can slot straight into the team for very cheap. But dig a little deeper and there are serious problems with the proposition.

First, Kurzawa is injury-prone, an alleged problematic character in the dressing room, and is not the best defensively, a far more effective offensive weapon than reliable defender. While he would be capable of filling in temporarily, he is not the long-term solution to Arsenal’s left-back problems — the return of Tierney is. Given his high wages, it would be curious to sign him to a deal that extends beyond this season.

Secondly, however, and more crucially, the question of need must be redetermined. In Kolasinac’s recent absence, 18-year-old Bukayo Saka has slotted in at left-back and performed very capably. While the winger is not a natural left-back and certainly shows his defensive naivety and inexperience at times, as in the opening 20 minutes against Chelsea when the excellent Callum Hudson-Odoi gave him the runaround, he is neat and tidy in possession, a willing runner, hard-working, productive in the final third, and a quick learner. He has adapted to the position superbly.

Saka improved immensely as the Chelsea match wore on, coming to grips with Hudson-Odoi defensively and sticking to his task dutifully despite the man disadvantage, and he was excellent against Sheffield United, including notching an assist for Gabriel Martinelli’s opening goal. It is fair to ask: Do Arsenal really need another left-back, especially with Kolasinac set to return in a matter of weeks?

Emergency signings are the smartest moves to be made at this time of year. But they must also serve a purpose, and given the recent performances of Saka, adding Kurzawa does not serve Arsenal much purpose at all. Saka makes his acquisition null and void.