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Soccer Premier League

Arsenal Must Fix Midfield Woes To Become Competitive

By @NickBurgess92

Arsenal

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Arsenal, on paper, are a very good team. They are loaded with attacking talent and seemingly added the last pieces of the puzzle in the final third by buying Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck this summer. Despite these purchases, they are still struggling and find themselves in fifth place, just one spot above West Ham United.

So what is wrong with Arsenal? Well, they are scoring plenty of goals thanks to Sanchez, Santi Cazorla, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Welbeck. However, their midfield is pretty shocking, which is surprising due to the wealth of talent. Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshire, Cazorla, Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta make up the continually overrun midfield. What they really need is a midfielder who will take charge of the middle of the park not only by sliding into bone-crunching tackles, but also a player the ball will always move through, dictating the pace of play. Ideally, there are two players in Europe who are veteran geniuses at this: Cesc Fabregas and Xabi Alonso.

Fabregas, a former Gunner, was offered to Arsenal in the offseason thanks to a first refusal clause in his contract with FC Barcelona. For reasons lost to time, Arsene Wenger refused the Spaniard, so Fabregas chose Chelsea and has flourished since. Alonso is in the same boat at Bayern Munich, setting Bundesliga records and piling up numerous “Man of the Match” awards.

There are several other options for Arsenal, but they won’t come cheap if they are to compete at the level they want to be. Three more options for them are Sami Khedira of Real Madrid CF, William Carvalho of Sporting Lisbon and Paul Pogba of Juventus.

Khedira is very tactical and has a high football IQ. He is strong, able to push many off the ball, but he lacks pace, so he makes up for it with understanding. This would be the ideal option for Wenger, as he seeks players with a good understanding of the game.

Next up is Carvalho. He is very young but already a very good player at 18 years old, and he has the time to be properly reared by someone like Wenger. He is physically dominant, standing tall and built like an American football linebacker. The only drawback to him is his massive 37.5 million pound release clause, which could be an issue for a stingy club like Arsenal.

The final player is Pogba. He is already heralded as one of the best midfielders in the world at just 21 years old. He is quick, strong, technically gifted, tall, smart and has a ferocious right foot in front of goal. Pogba would be the perfect fit for any midfield in the world, but again the issue is Juventus’ asking price of over 55 million pounds. Also, Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Chelsea are all in the hunt for the Frenchman, making it more difficult to lure him to London.

Any of these players would be a great fit for Arsenal, but it all depends on how much the club wants to spend on a quality player and at what phase of their career they are in. If they want an immediate fix, Pogba or Khedira would fit. If they want future potential, Pogba and Carvalho would top the list. In any case, if Arsenal want to see themselves in the title conversation, expect to see one of these players in a red and white shirt very soon.

Nick Burgess is a soccer columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickBurgess92, “Like” him on Facebook and connect with him on Google.

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