Arsenal: 3 transfer targets if Thomas Partey doesn’t work out

2. Erick Pulgar

Erick Pulgar has had a storied run in Serie A. Having traveled across the country featuring in the midfield of several top teams, he has become a bit of an Arturo Vidal Jr., and back when Vidal was linked to Arsenal, I was 100% on board with that too.

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Pulgar, like Laimer, is not strictly a holding midfielder. But also like Laimer, if you isolate him solely to his defensive work, you would still have an excellent holding midfielder. Instead though, in Pulgar you get a fantastic all-around midfielder who carries the ball well and contributes to the creative side of play effectively.

Pulgar is one of those solutions that could be a bigger piece of the puzzle than Partey because of his versatility, but the question remains of if that versatility would get in the way of his defensive efforts.

While it’s unlikely Pulgar leaves his long-time home in Italy, he still stands as one of the top candidates to bolster a needy Arsenal midfield. And the best part is that he would come remarkably cheap according to his £15m-ish market valuation.

But no one does the Partey job better than No. 1.