Although it’s happened a little earlier than last season, Arsenal have once again hit a brick wall in terms of performance levels and results.
Mikel Arteta’s side were flying before the festive fixtures, but a couple of knock backs has dented their confidence.
This time around they have much longer to be able to correct things and, importantly, are able to bring in new players until the end of the month.
That change in dynamic could be the difference maker when it comes to giving out the silverware in the summer.
To that end, according to Fichajes, the north Londoners are actively seeking to recruit a central defender in January.
The outlet have named out-of-favour Bayern Munich ace, Matthijs de Ligt, as a player of interest, and the 24-year-old with 32 goals to his name in his 338-game senior career (transfermarkt) would surely jump at the chance to move to another of European football’s top leagues.
Having learned his trade under Erik ten Hag and alongside the likes of Frenkie de Jong and Donny van de Beek at Ajax, de Ligt moved to Juventus after a supposed swoop by Barcelona failed to materialise.
A switch from Serie A to the Bundesliga hasn’t worked out as everyone had hoped, so a switch to Arsenal would give the Dutchman renewed drive and desire to prove himself – much the same scenario as Arteta and his Arsenal side at present.
Arsenal’s problems are both fullback positions. In reality Arsenal do not have an a real energetic fullback and have been fortunate to get away with using central defenders or midfielders in those positions. //The full back has to be the most energetic player on show and the lacking of forward overlapping runs is not giving space to Martinelli or Sake to play with.// The Arsenal so called fullbacks are also not getting back in time to prevent or slow down that early in swinging cross by the opposition.// Arteta needs to recall Tierney at least and invest in two quality out and out energetic fullbacks that can run up and down the pitch all day long without breaking sweat, rather than being static, waiting for the back pass in nomans land. //That is why Martinelli and Saka are not at their best, it’s because of the lack of options and support buy fullbacks.