Raul Sanllehi has the perfect solution for Arsenal’s looming transfer problem

Arsenal may need to step up their attacking options this summer.

While Mikel Arteta’s team features some of the Premier League’s top offensive players – particularly when it comes to top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – the true elite teams in the division and across Europe demonstrate that it is necessary to add that group.

Many names have been associated with a potential move in the Emirates, but more recently the Lyon Memphis Depay has emerged as a possible target.

French outlet Le10Sport reports that Arteta wishes to bring Depay to North London in the event of losing Aubameyang or Alexandre Lacazette, both of whom could be shipped out of the club with contractual disputes and ever-increasing age.

But how could Depay fit into the Arsenal team and is he the type of striker that Arteta really requires?

The 26-year-old Dutchman on the right, who is currently in rehab after an ACL tear, plays mostly on the right hip. Known for his silky skills and explosive dribbling technique, as evidenced by his form for Lyon, he also added the final product to his game, drifting in the intermediate space between the full back and the central defender to provoke the chaos of the opponents.

It is a position comparable to the reversed leftist role that Aubameyang has played so far under Arteta. Racing from the outside to the inside, trying to isolate the opposite full back with Bukayo Saka or Kieran Tierney superimposed, is a position that has brought Arsenal a great joy since the arrival of Arteta. The attack by the Gunners on the left side was a huge advantage.

In theory, Depay would slide perfectly into this role. For FBREF and Statsbomb, in the 2017/18 season, scored 19 goals and provided nine assists in 2,555 Ligue 1 minutes. The following year, those numbers dropped a bit, to 10 goals and 10 assists in 2,737 minutes, but has since increased its production in the first half of this season, scoring nine goals and adding two assists in just 1,018 minutes.

This is prolific. Indeed, it compares favorably with Aubameyang. This season, Aubameyang has scored an average goal or assist every 126.4 minutes. Depay scored an average goal or assist every 92.5 minutes.

Depay is also a more natural wide player than Aubameyang. Arteta is scoring his best scorer in a wide position in an attempt to squeeze him and Lacazette or Eddie Nketiah into the same team as a center forward who falls in midfield to connect the game together. Depay would be more suited to the position. Aubameyang is a helpful worker, but he never seems comfortable enough.

Depay is more skilled than Aubameyang. He is a more direct and progressive dribbler. This season, he completed 3.01 dribbles for 90 minutes and brings the ball 167.4 yards progressive for 90. Both statistics far exceed Aubameyang.

It is a winger that can score goals, not a center forward who can play wide, and this difference is crucial.

The difficulty, however, is whether Arsenal keeps Aubameyang – and Arteta has made it clear that he really wants to keep the attacker.

“I want to keep it in all circumstances” said Arteta earlier in the season. In no uncertain terms, he believes Arsenal is better off with Aubameyang than without.

Arteta has also clearly stated that he knows what he would like the team to look like next season.

“I’m very clear,” he said at a pre-match press conference last week when asked about the positions to be strengthened. “I have a very clear plan and the specificity of the players, the positions and the balance of the team that we need to compete with the rest of the best teams in the country.”

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Putting two and two together therefore leaves little room for Depay. Arteta knows which team and form she wants; he wants Aubameyang to be part of it. Given Aubameyang’s position as an inverted right wing, it is difficult to see how Depay fits.

Obviously, Arteta could move Aubameyang to her favorite center forward position and move Lacazette. Of the couple, Aubameyang was much more effective. Lacazette may be the youngest and with an extra year for his contract, but his future seems more uncertain at the moment.

However, while this is possible, Arteta has been reluctant to use Aubameyang in between.

“With the players we currently have, we have to try to set up a team where our target threat is high”, Said Arteta in February when asked about his decision to play Aubameyang on the left. “To do it, if I play it up there, then I don’t play with Laca. Both can score goals. There are always positive and negative aspects: I just try to find the right balance and the players who can generate chemistry between them. “

So far this balance has been fundamental to Arteta’s direction. In every position, he tried to find it. And based on his decision-making process so far, he apparently doesn’t see Aubameyang as a well-balanced center-forward. Therefore, Depay makes little sense without Aubameyang leading the way.

If Aubameyang were to leave, as is highly plausible, Depay represents an excellent substitute potential, a broader and more natural player who is equally prolific. If Aubameyang were to remain, however, his role and form in the team are difficult to understand.