Arsenal suffer poor start to summer with midfield transfers key

Midfield is Where Arsenal Will Make or Break This Summer

While slight innovations need to be made on the wings even with Nicolas Pepe and Gabriel Martinelli looking to be useful moving forward, the major blow up must be in the middle of the pitch, and should any full-backs be sold as expected, at least one more very high level candidate on the right will be crucial to the teams expression and success in this capacity.

Arsenal had every chance to make it into Europe next season, and not doing so fell all onto the players and the coaching staff. While it is hard on the ego and pocket book, the club can focus on domestic football – potential cup silverware – on their way to a top four finish. This new reworked midfield will be so important in accomplishing this that without it, the team, despite its copious talent, will be little more effective than it was this season.

Other positions might also be tweaked; the centre forward position might be played with as Alexandre Lacazette remains highly prized across Europe, while the centre-back position will likely see William Saliba, and possibly Konstantinos Mavropanos, added to the rotation. Bernd Leno might be on the team moving forward as Andre Onana nears Or he might not be, such is the way the window works.

These are all so important, yet without dependable middle men, as both Chelsea and Manchester City demonstrated, technical midfielders still can win the day across an entire match. This last season was a great example by Arsenal of what happens when you do not have that quality and consistency with you: failure.

When we had quality in the form of Odegaard, Smith Rowe and so on, the team played with greater impetus and flair, winning a healthy amount across the final month(+) of the year. While losing to the eventual champs Villarreal still stings, it is simply fuel for the journey moving forward. It must be burned and used, it cannot be wasted and lamented upon for too long.

While the summer window didn’t get off to a great start when our initial bid for Emi Buendia wasn’t enough, the team has opportunities coming ahead and we must be patient. No matter how painful it is, the Gunners must hold steady on the current course they have plotted and see out this process, for Arsenal supporters present, past and future.