Arsenal: It’s Willian or Bukayo Saka, you can only choose one

Arsenal is still frustratingly linked to Willian, but to put it simply, if you sign Willian, you have to be expecting to lose Bukayo Sak.

Arsenal‘s link to Willian is driving me completely insane. Which I find remarkable because I really do like Willian and wouldn’t mind having him at the club. But the context of the situation and the current state of the club makes Willian on the same level as Chris Smalling. And I don’t say that lightly.

What this comes down to is the state of Willian’s position. While just a few years back we were devoid of winger talent, nowadays it’s completely different. We are full up in every sense of the word. Just completely full.

On the right, we have Nicolas Pepe, who should be starting every match and becoming a world-class talent. Behind him we have Reiss Nelson, who is desperate for game time and still tanks as one of our most talented young players.

But Willian plays on the left, primarily, doesn’t he? Great. That’s where we have Gabriel Martinelli, who should be starting every single game and growing into an elite talent, and Bukayo Saka, who should be starting every single game and growing into an elite talent.

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Tell me where Willian fits. Do we really need a fifth winger?

Which brings me to my other point. If Willian is coming in, that means that someone is going out. It has to. You can’t have four wingers in place and sign a fifth, that’s just too many. Unless Mikel Arteta has eyes on making Martinelli a striker, but for some reason, that seems off the table.

Since Martinelli has only just arrived, he isn’t going anywhere. The guy wants to be a legend. Which leaves Bukayo Saka, who is also proving a problem to lock down to a long-term contract.

The only way to make sense of Willian coming in is if it’s Arteta’s plan to compensate for Saka going out. Which is unfortunate, because a Saka exit would be both devastating and, somehow, unavoidable.

Saka would be following in the footsteps of Serge Gnabry, which is not something I even want to talk about right now.

Willian would be a decent bandaid to losing Saka, but I can’t foresee a situation where we keep both of them. It just doesn’t make any sense and Mikel Arteta is a very sensible man.