Arsenal’s 2022 summer transfer window preview

Full-Backs

Losing Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu at the business end of last season turned out to be a major blow for the Gunners. Cedric performed as expected, putting in some solid and some below-average performances but was nowhere near the quality shown by Tomiyasu when fit.

Nuno Tavares struggled to find form covering for Tierney at the end of the season. Sporadic would be how I’d describe the Portuguese full-back as he is a very raw player that needs to add a lot more consistency to his game to be relied upon.

It is no surprise that Arsenal has now been linked with Aaron Hickey from Bologna and Oleksandr Zinchenko from City. The potential Hickey deal seems much further along with the Gunners said to have lodged a £25m bid for the Scot’s services. Like Tomiyasu, Hickey is very effective with both feet which would aid Arsenal’s build-up significantly.

If one of these deals was to be pulled off I think Arsenal could look to loan Tavares. He has the potential to be a talented player but he needs to develop more refined skills and a loan away could help his development to fight for his spot in north London.

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