Arsenal: Julian Brandt A Proper Addition For Mikel Arteta’s Midfield

With the youth of Arsenal keeping the club going, Julian Brandt would be a dream addition.

That’s because the 24-year-old German attacking midfielder is both fierce for his age, as well as mature for it. With a player like Thomas Partey right behind him, and weapons both young and old in front of him and to his side, it would be difficult to trifle with the ability of Arsenal’s attack in both England and Europe.

While other offensive maestros of the midfield have been discussed before, ranging from Phillipe Coutinho and Emi Buendia, to Houssem Aouar and a bevy of other names as well, Julian Brandt does not only possess a good game.

No, he too possesses a good frame.

Few midfields in top-flight football, depending on who he eventually becomes partners with, will be as physically and technically imposing as Arsenal might be. And for Mikel Arteta, well, I suppose that’s the point isn’t it?

Julian Brandt: Versatility With Physicality & Mentality

What makes the young German so good is the combination of his gifts, and the dedication he has to continuing to improve and hone them. While he can play in either an attacking or holding position in midfield, he can also provide further integrity on an already stocked left-wing of Gunners.

With the current crisis in Dortmund’s midfield, it might take a greater price to pry him from them, but the rewards would be great for years to come. Their stance and Arsenal’s likelihood of acquiring him has shifted of late, but no door should be shut completely.

This is advantageous for the entire club and of course the manager, who will want his players to have as much versatility as possible in terms of shapes and positions. With young players like Joe Willock, Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Martinelli scattered across the offensive landscape of the team, Brandt would have many young faces to grow alongside of over the years to come.

Yet his experience with Borussia Dortmund both domestically as well as across European competition will be, as it was with Partey, an absolute gift that will aid his new club when wading into similar waters in the coming years, perhaps even months.

It is players like him and Partey that are the more expensive building blocks, alongside the obvious stars like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, yet Brandt is the rare mix of a player who is young like the younger members, while also full of experience and knowledge based on his quite numerous trials as an athlete.

And while his numbers have yet to shine as they normally do in a dysfunctional Dortmund team this term, that will likely do as much to diminish his price tag as the pandemic that much of the world is continuing to languish through.

For Arsenal, a club which is facing losses as difficult as any club across football over this stretch of time, is Brandt an attainable piece for the club? We know that he could provide us with great work rate and imagination for many years to come, but do we ourselves as a club have the ambition and volition to make a daring enough move for the player?