As the English football season fast approaches, the press are now in overdrive as they link various players with Premier League outfits.

Arsenal will be hoping to mount a serious title challenge this term and have already brought in goalkeeper Petr Cech from rivals Chelsea to help them push towards top spot.

But it still seems as though the Gunners need a few more new faces to finally end that agonising wait for another league championship trophy.

That has seen Arsene Wenger’s men linked with quite a few players this summer.

One of the latest has been Juventus striker Fernando Llorente, who could cost around £8m.

But would the Spaniard really improve the Arsenal squad? 

Well it all depends on what role he’d be given to fill at the Gunners.

For me, Llorente wouldn’t oust Oliver Giroud from being the regularly used frontman.

But the thirty year old could be an extremely useful squad player. He’d offer a different option, that could be valuable if like last season Giroud picks up an injury. Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck all offer pace but struggle in the air and against the more aggressive opponents.

Fernando’s aerial threat would also toughen up the Arsenal side as they battle for points against the more one dimensional sides in the league. In his career the Spanish international has bagged 120 league goals in 360 games!

If Fernando Llorente does join the London side, then Wenger may have to deal with a bit of criticism from the club’s fans as they were hoping for a huge summer striking signing this pre-season.

Wenger wasn’t helped when Arsenal director Lord Harris stated in the press:

‘We could go into the market and probably buy any player in the world, apart from half a dozen who are un-buyable. In the accounts, there’s over £200million in the bank.”

That kind of talk only builds up expectations and that has the supporters dreaming of players like Karim Benzema, Edinson Cavani or Gonzalo Higuain staring at the Emirates Stadium.

But at the moment it seems like most of Europe’s top clubs don’t want to discuss proven goalscorers leaving their clubs.

Signing Llorente could prove to be an ideal stop gap if Wenger wants to wait another year before pouncing on someone like Alexandre Lacazette who could be available next summer from Lyon.

If Arsenal are to challenge the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United for the Premier League trophy then they will still need a new holding midfielder and possibly a new defender too.

That again proves that Llorente could be an astute signing, that would allow Wenger to spend big on a holding middleman.

A new striker will also be welcome but I don’t subscribe to the Thierry Henry theory that Oliver Giroud isn’t good enough to handle the main goalscoring duties!

Giroud just needs luck and help around him to show off his talents.

Sometimes building a squad capable of success isn’t all about the first team or signing £30m plus players. You also need to add supplemental talents that can add an extra option that could turn certain games in your favour.

If Arsene Wenger does spend £8m of Fernando Llorente then he could get a player who strengths his squad rather than his starting eleven but that could prove to be vital in a long, hard season!

Posted on July 26th, 2015 by scott
Filed under: Article