Arsenal: Next season’s predicted starting XI

Central Midfield

Arsenal have some major decisions to make in central midfield. Dani Ceballos will return to Real Madrid at the end of his loan deal, Mesut Ozil is looking increasingly old and might be offloaded in an attempt to ease the wage budget, while Granit Xhaka’s future is still up in the air given his limitations against Mikel Arteta’s faith in him.

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Let’s start with Ceballos. The Spaniard has stated his desire to make a career at Madrid while he will not come cheap. Despite their own desires, I am not sure that Arsenal will be able to get a deal done for his return. That, then, leaves two open defensive midfield spots in Arteta’s 4-2-3-1 shape.

I expect one to go to Lucas Torreira due to his unique defensive instincts. He is the most singular midfielder in the squad, and Arteta will lean on his energy, athleticism, and reading of the game. To partner him I predict that Matteo Guendouzi will take the necessary steps to finally displace Xhaka. He has struggled to establish himself under Arteta, but he is the far more talented of the two. Arteta, I believe, will be keen to tap into the Frenchman’s potential and will have limited his positional wandering after a summer preseason on the training ground.

Finally, Ozil. Even if the German does not depart this summer, the Gunners still need to find a long-term replacement for him. Jack Grealish and James Maddison have been muted but will extremely expensive. For that reason, I think Arsenal dip into their scouting bag of tricks and sign Jonathan David from Belgium. He is 20 years old and has 18 goals from attacking midfield. Riskier, yes, but also a lot more financially viable.