Arsenal: Said Benrahma the wrong kind of brilliant

Arsenal are supposedly joining the rat race for Brentford winger Said Benrahma, and while it sounds delectable, it’s more than a little flawed.

Arsenal are starting to get linked to more than a few summer transfers. With reports that Mikel Arteta is ready to axe the bloated trio of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil all in one fell blow, the replacements need to be lined up. Enter Said Benrahma.

Benrahma has shown tremendous ability in the Championship over the past two years, accumulating 18 goals and 19 assists in just over fifty appearances. Naturally, that’s going to attract attention.

It’s clear that Benrahma belongs at the next level, and to see him at Arsenal would be brilliant. But the problem is that it’s the wrong kind of brilliant. Or rather, the wrong time for this brilliance.

Arsenal have a lot to figure out in this attack, but one area they explicitly do not need help sorting out is on the wings.

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After spending a small fortune on Nicolas Pepe and adding in for good measure Gabriel Martinelli, both of whom are superstars in the making, there is already a lot to contend with if we were to add Benrahma.

That doesn’t even include Bukayo Saka, who is at the same to-be-a-superstar level, and Reiss Nelson, who just needs to get through all the injuries to properly settle and prove that he belongs at this level as well.

That makes it four guys, two on each side, who will not take kindly to another addition. And you might want to also include Emile Smith Rowe since we don’t know how he’s going to be used, and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who will need somewhere to go as well.

And again, this is all assuming that Aubameyang is sold.

Benrahma is a tremendous talent who I would love to see at the Emirates, but not at the expense of any of the guys I just mentioned. Especially because Benrahma is more inclined to the left side, which is where Martinelli and Saka will be plying their trade. The only, only way I could see this being okay is if Martinelli became a striker, but I don’t think that’s on the cards.

Said Benrahma would be a brilliant addition, but the kind of brilliant that’s fun to think about and not actually to see because it just isn’t destined to succeed. Unless you can convince me otherwise.