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Arsenal: 3 replacements for Mesut Ozil

By Andrew Dowdeswell

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 21: Mesut Ozil of Arsenal passes the ball during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Arsenal FC at Stamford Bridge on January 21, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 21: Mesut Ozil of Arsenal passes the ball during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Arsenal FC at Stamford Bridge on January 21, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /
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Lyon’s French midfielder Houssem Aouar celebrates after scoring the opener during the French Cup quarter-final football match between Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique de Marseille at the Groupama stadium in Decines-Charpieu near Lyon, central eastern France on February 12, 2020. (Photo by ROMAIN LAFABREGUE / AFP) (Photo by ROMAIN LAFABREGUE/AFP via Getty Images)
Lyon’s French midfielder Houssem Aouar celebrates after scoring the opener during the French Cup quarter-final football match between Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique de Marseille at the Groupama stadium in Decines-Charpieu near Lyon, central eastern France on February 12, 2020. (Photo by ROMAIN LAFABREGUE / AFP) (Photo by ROMAIN LAFABREGUE/AFP via Getty Images) /

2. Houssem Aouar

There are few more impressive and productive young creative midfielders in world football than Houssem Aouar right now. The Lyon creator is the talk of the town and is widely suited throughout some of the biggest clubs across Europe. In reality, Arsenal would do well to get him.

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But the same was said about Nicolas Pepe this time last year, and the Gunners managed to find the money and motivation to convince him to move to north London. Perhaps the same can be done with Aouar, who is having a similar impact on Ligue 1 as Pepe had last season.

The 21-year-old Frenchman is a technical, creative, athletic central midfielder. His vision and passing are superb, he is a tremendous dribbler, and he has enough acceleration to skip past defenders without being a complete burner.

This season, he has three goals and three assists in just under 2000 Ligue 1 minutes. He has also a goal and three assists in five Champions League matches. He scored seven goals with eight assists in Ligue 1 last year, with another three assists in the Champions League, and that came after a six-goal, five-assist league campaign when he was just 19 — this was his breakout season. The only problem might be price. It is difficult to see how he would cost less than £50 million, and with several top clubs after his services, that might only rise.

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