Should Arsenal still move for Houssem Aouar or Julian Brandt?

With the draw to Burnley, which sank our top five chances, the Europa League must be Arsenal’s most pressing focus to get back to European play for the next campaign. Even with the North London Derby win against Tottenham, climbing into Europe without a Europa League title seems hard to imagine.

Yet the reason we are in this position is a result of our lackluster and inconsistent ruthlessness and fluidity, as the last two results can attest.

While the Gunners have been reasonable on defense for the most part this season, with some exceptions, the offense has been sputtering on and off all season The club is simply not receiving the type of consistent plays from its front attackers, or the midfielders behind them.

Without consistent firepower from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Willian, Nicolas Pepe and others, the team has little shot to challenge the bigger names of the Premier League. What can fix that?

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Houssem Aouar or Julian Brandt for Arsenal? Both or either would suffice, while other targets exist

Since the draw at Turf Moor, speculation regarding some of the larger names of the club has increased. Hector Bellerin and Alexandre Lacazette headline this list, yet they might not be the only ones who find themselves elsewhere in the coming transfer window. Lucas Torreira will be sold, as will Matteo Guendouzi, when both return from their respective loans, among many others. Question marks over Granit Xhaka?

And while those players return, likely to be sold, both Dani Ceballos and Martin Odegaard also face the potential of finding themselves back in Spain with their parent club, Real Madrid. There is will on the club’s part that Odegaard might yet find his way to London Colney permanently.

European play or no European play, Arsenal will have some money to spend. The question simply remains, how much? Champions League qualification via a Europa League title appears likeliest, if possible, and would charge the club with further ambition and hope. It would certainly buy Mikel Arteta all the time he likely feels he’d need to construct the type of Arsenal squad he wishes to field on a weekly basis.

But in any event, Arsenal will have money if they sell accordingly, and so should be looking to create greater dynamism in the engine room. While young Bukayo Saka has shown that he is an absolute star, as has Emile Smith Rowe, the club needs more. Losing all those midfielders to loan returns, transfers and the lot, will create funds and space for players like Houssem Aouar of Lyon and/or Julian Brandt of Borussia Dortmund –  two names familiar to supporters.

With their size and speed, quality and imagination, both would provide Thomas Partey real pieces to help link the back to the front. While it is fair to blame the high priced attackers of the Gunners, it is also fair to assess who is running, and how exactly they are running, the offensive build-up.

While neither will come cheap, the team will have capital to move after this winter window and the subsequent work coming up for this summer window. Another piece the may look at is Odsonne Edouard of Celtic. The young striker is dominating and swapping him in for the aging and often ineffective Lacazette would be a master stroke for Edu and Arteta.

Those three names alone would change the complexion of the team entirely; but will Arsenal show this level of ambition? Even if not on these exact players? I believe so.