Rebuilding a team is always going to be tough on a limited budget, so it’s natural for the club to face a dilemma between quality vs quantity.
If you try to sign a few stars then you can get by if they carry the team, but injuries and poor form can completely derail your season when there’s no depth to back it up.
You can also go in the opposite direction and go for a deeper squad filled with more rotational players, but that can lead to a situation where you don’t have the quality to advance to the next level.
Arsenal face that issue just now as the squad is lacking depth in several areas, so it’s going to take some skilful wheeling and dealing from Mikel Arteta this summer.
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There has often been talk about Hector Bellerin returning to Barcelona as they still haven’t solved their right back problem since Dani Alves left years ago, and Football.London has indicated that it could happen this summer.
They go on to state that Arsenal will look to re-ignite their January interest in Junior Firpo by asking for him in exchange, and it could fill two needs if the Spaniard leaves.
Firpo is primarily a left back so it would finally give them some depth behind Kieran Tierney who is brilliant but injury prone, while it’s also believed that he can fill in at right back so in some ways he could replace Bellerin as well.
You would be nervous about him becoming the immediate starter on the right hand side because it’s not his natural position, but there are also reports which suggest that Arsenal want to sign Tariq Lamptey so then Firpo would give depth and quality in both roles.
Firpo isn’t a regular starter for Barca so you have to think Arsenal could get some cash on top of him in the deal to let Bellerin go, so it does begin to make sense if Arteta is convinced of his quality and versatility.
So…
RB: Cedric and Lamptey
LB: Tierney and Firpo.
Cedric can cover LB and Firpo can cover RB… Nice cover and competition IMO.
Firpo ,who can also play at CB ,yes, but Lamptey, no.While Lamptey can be very effective as a right wing back, his lack of height and defensive ability diminishes his potential as a RB in a back four.If Bellerin is moved on,Arteta should contact Brendan Rogers, who has three quality right backs ,any one of which would be an upgrade on Bellerin, in my opinion.