Arsenal
Why Emery must get this player at all cost
Arsenal manager Unai Emery has revealed his desire to add to his team’s attacking prowess ahead of the second period of the season.
The Spaniard is on a mission to qualify for next season’s Champions League competition. To achieve his ultimate goal for this campaign, he must upgrade his team at the final half of the pitch in January.
According to the Sun, the former Sevilla manager has contacted Argentinian giants Boca Juniors over the availability of their attack-minded youngster Cristian Pavon.
The 22-year-old was targeted by many European clubs throughout last season’s transaction periods(summer and winter) but it was a surprise none of them were able to lure the youngster out of his countryside.
The Gunners have reportedly made early enquiries about Pavon’s availability ahead of the upcoming transfer market as they are willing to beat other suitors to his signature.
Boca Juniors have placed a mammoth price tag of £40m on his signature but it is yet to be seen if the Gunners wouldn’t mind spending such a huge amount on the Argentine forward.
As much as the price tag looks too steep for a player who doesn’t have much experience playing outside his country, Unai Emery stands to gain a lot from the youngster’s presence in his team.
Pavon is an unselfish player who will create a great partnership with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the striking department of the team.
His presence at Emirates stadium alone is enough to make the rest of the team up, especially strikers, their overall performances as there will be intense competition.
Manchester City and Liverpool are doing wonderfully well as results of the competition in the team.
The Citizens possess wide pool of strikers to choose from. Should Raheem Sterling fail to score a goal in four consecutive games, there is Gabriel Jesus to turn to.
If Aguero is going through a dry spell in front of goal, Pep Guardiola would turn to Leroy Sane for inspiration.
As for Liverpool, Mane is on the ground to replace Salah, Sturridge for Firmino, Shaqiri for Mane and so on.
The same couldn’t be said of the Gunners as they only have Aubameyang as their consistent striker.
With Pavon in the team, Emery has another top-class striker whom he could call upon for inspiration whenever the Gabonese didn’t deliver.
Having said that, the Emirates outfits must be very fast in their negotiations with Boca Juniors for the young man, this is because other clubs are keeping close tabs on his services.
Two Chelsea targets have made the Team of the Week list in the Premier League after helping their club to a significant away win over top-four chasers Arsenal.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Wilfried Zaha have both been linked with Chelsea and the two players were in very good form for Crystal Palace who stunned the Gunners with a 3-2 win at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal and Chelsea are two of the four teams battling to qualify for Champions League football next season via the league route.
Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United are also in the four-way battle to secure two spots for England in Europe’s premier club competition.
Arsenal needed a win to jump ahead of the other three competitors on the table but Crystal Palace had other ideas.
Wan-Bissaka produced a very good defensive showing against the Gunners while Zaha scored the second goal for his team.
Christian Benteke was given a start by Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson and the Belgian international striker repaid his manager’s faith with the first goal of the game in the first half.
The other goals didn’t come until the second half.
Mesut Ozil equalised for Arsenal before Zaha and James McArthur added further goals for the visitors to go 3-1 up.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pulled one back for Arsenal with 13 minutes left on the clock but it turned out to be mere consolation as Crystal Palace held on for a famous win.
It has been claimed that the defeat suffered by North London outfit Arsenal against Crystal Palace has exposed the problem with the Arsenal team as the defence could not stop Wilfried Zaha from causing damage to the team.
This goes to say that there is a high level of imbalance in the Arsenal team as the signs have been glaring for all to see over the season but this time Shkodran Mustafi was caught in the act as he committed a number of blunders.
The social media have been buzzing over the former Valencia defender and his performance with many calling for his exit from the club while others claim he should be held responsible for the defeat.
Shkodran Mustafi is seen to be very slow and not able to meet up with the firing pace of the Crystal Palace attack and that was a major reason why the Gunners attack was well exposed.
However, it is expected that the Spanish boss will do justice to that by ensuring the signature of new defenders that will help to correct the flaws of the team this season.
Unai Emery has already given the hint on transfer activities but there are fears that the budget could be small for him to execute good deals.
Emerging reports claim that a new sporting director would soon be announced by the North London outfit Arsenal in the coming weeks as talks are already in place.
The Gunners team have been in search for a director since Sven Mislintat left the club after falling out with some of the club’s chiefs over transfer issues.
An attempt was made to secure the signature of former AS Roma chief Monchi but it did not work through as he decided to join the Spanish La Liga outfit Sevilla while former Arsenal player Marc Overmars has been tied by his club.
However, it is claimed that the Gunners are already in talks with a former player Edu as they hope to land him as the new director of football so that he could talk up transfer issues as the summer window draws near.
Edu is currently working with the Brazilian national teams as their general coordinator and this could be an opportunity for him to work with a club also but it is suggested that he would not be joining anytime soon but after Brazil’s Copa America campaign in the summer.
Meanwhile, the Gunners are hoping to do some business as soon as the summer transfer window is opened.
There are suggestions that the North London outfit Arsenal could finally land Thorgan Hazard in the coming summer transfer window as he is reportedly keen to leave the German Bundesliga outfit Bayern Monchengladbach.
A lot of clubs are reportedly linked with the signature of Thorgan Hazard as he is confirmed to be ready to leave the Bundesliga outfit which means the Gunners will battle a number of teams to be able to land him.
Another Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool and Chelsea have been linked with his signature in the past but the move has yet to materialize.
Thorgan Hazard has been tipped as an improved version of Wales international Aaron Ramsey who is set to leave the Emirates Stadium at the end of the season, after agreeing on a four-year deal with the Italian Serie A champions Juventus.
More so, the Gunners have not had the best from Denis Suarez who joined the club on loan from the Spanish La Liga outfit Barcelona, hence, there are suggestions that Thorgan Hazard could just be brought in to serve as an addition to the Unai Emery team.
Meanwhile, the decision on the move is claimed to be made by Thorgan Hazard as he would be unstoppable by his team.
North London outfit Arsenal suffered a major setback in their bid to secure a top-four finish as they were defeated by Crystal Palace on Sunday.
The Unai Emery side still remains fourth in the Premier League table but a win against Crystal Palace could have fired them a step forward to the third position on the log table.
However, there are suggestions that a lot of lessons have been learned by the Gunners boss from the defeat going by his speech in the post-match interview.
The former PSG boss hailed the impressive performance of Crystal Palace stars Wilfred Zaha and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, noting that they are very good players and are still improving in addition to helping their team win games.
Unai Emery hinted that Arsenal could learn from them and he could now have some of his young players promoted to playing in the first team because the club has got a number of them in the academy while others are currently on loan.
Meanwhile, the likes of Emile Smith-Row, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Wallock and a number of them could be seen in the first team ahead of the coming season, especially if they are able to impress and prove their quality in the team.
Crystal Palace players Wilfried Zaha and Aaron Wan-Bissaka have drawn the praise of the Arsenal manager ahead of the London Derby clash between the Gunners and the Eagles.
In his pre-match thoughts ahead of the game between Arsenal and Palace at the Emirates Stadium, Gunners boss Unai Emery lauded the two aforementioned players for their impact on the Eagles.
Arsenal and Unai Emery need a win at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday evening to maintain their spot in the Premier League top-four.
As a matter of fact, an Arsenal victory will catapult the Gunners above North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and into the third spot on the Premier League table.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Wilfried Zaha have both been linked with respective moves away from Crystal Palace ahead of this summer.
England junior international right-back Wan-Bissaka is the subject of transfer interest from clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea.
The young defender has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign at Crystal Palace after usurping experienced player Joel Ward as the first choice right-back at Selhurst Park.
On the other hand, Zaha has been linked with clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint Germain (PSG), German Bundesliga chasers Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea.
The Ivorian international has already talked up the need to play Champions League football meaning that he could be open to a transfer away from Palace.
France international and Arsenal striker has revealed that manager Unai Emery is doing a lot of things differently than his predecessor, Arsene Wenger.
Arsene Wenger said goodbye to the Emirates Stadium at the end of last season after a 22-year reign before the Spanish boss took over, coming from Ligue 1 outfit PSG.
A lot has been achieved with the Spanish boss especially as the Gunners have returned to winning ways and also secured more points already than they did last season under the French boss.
More to it is the fact that the North London outfit has got the chances of returning to Champions League football even with a top-four finish.
However, Alexandre Lacazette has stated that a lot has been benefited from the former PSG boss, noting that the team now do more tactical training and watch videos.
He noted that his side have conceded a lot of goals this season but that is already being worked upon and they are improving every month as a team.
Meanwhile, Alexandre Lacazette noted that the bid to qualify for the Champions League next season is left to his team as they will be able to achieve that if they win all of their games.
North London outfit Arsenal are still being linked with a move for Tottenham central defender Toby Alderweireld ahead of the coming summer transfer window.
Toby Alderweireld has been rumoured to be leaving the North London outfit since the last summer transfer window with former Man United manager Jose Mourinho but the deal did not work through.
However, it is claimed that Toby Alderweireld is keen to leave Tottenham for other challenges elsewhere with a number of teams hoping to land him in this summer window.
Toby Alderweireld has been tipped to cost £25 million which the Gunners should be able to meet because of his level of experience and exposure.
Meanwhile, it is unclear if Toby Alderweireld is the deal the Arsenal team will want to bring in due to his old age as Unai Emery seems to be ready to work with younger players and the Tottenham defender is over 30.
The Gunners are, however, keen on new defenders, having conceded more goals than any of the top-six teams.
Manager Unai Emery is keen to compete for the English Premier League title in the coming season and that will only be made possible if he adds more strength to his team when the summer window is reopened.
Arsenal manager Unai Emery has reacted to claims that France international Alexandre Lacazette is unhappy over playing time at the club.
This is coming after he was substituted shortly after scoring the only goal in the 1-0 Europa League win against Italian Serie A outfit Napoli for Alex Iwobi in the 70th minute.
This has raised speculations that the player is unhappy, especially after he spoke to the press by claiming that he would have been happier if he had more time in the game just like any player, stressing that it is a thing of joy to always be on the pitch.
However, Unai Emery cited the case of legendary goalkeeper Petr Cech who only plays in the Europa League, noting that other players must learn from him.
He noted that every player wants to be on the pitch for 90 minutes but that will not be possible because of the need for the manager to make use of the available time to achieve a lot.
The Spanish boss argued that some situation will require that he have two strikers on the pitch but that cannot happen all the time because of the need to get the best out of every moment.
Arsenal youngster Alex Iwobi has made a special claim of performing better than his uncle and former Nigerian international Jay-Jay Okocha ahead of the country’s bid to storm Egypt for the AFCON title.
Alex Iwobi will be having his debut AFCON competition in Egypt later in June and that has gotten him excited as he seems to have something related to Okocha other than blood.
It would be recalled that the former Bolton midfielder won his maiden tournament with Nigerian in 1994 when the country won their second AFCON title by defeating Zambia in the Tunisia final.
Alex Iwobi is, therefore, seeking to win the Super Eagles’ fourth AFCON title and his first in his debut year as he noted that he has seen the highlight of the 1994 Super Eagles and will hope he is able to make his own record.
The 22-year-old has been impressing with the Arsenal team and he is a major part of the Unai Emery team and he would be hoping to replicate the performance for the national team when the African competition is opened.
Meanwhile, Iwobi represented England at the junior level in the U16, U17 and U18 before agreeing to represent his father’s home country.
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