Arsenal have had their fair share of problem positions over the years.
After Patrick Vieira left, the Gunners were bereft of a defensive midfielder for the longest time. Robin van Persie’s departure left the London club struggling for a striker for a number of years, while filling Jens Lehmann’s boots proved to be an almost impossible task at one point.
However, one area that has persistently been a problem has been at centre-back.
Ever since the days of Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure, Arsenal haven’t had a sturdy pairing at the heart of their defence.
Yes, there have been a few solid players there, the likes of Thomas Vermaelen, William Gallas, Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker have all shone at one time or another, but it’s often been a struggle for consistency and quality at centre-half.
Mikel Arteta’s side are currently going through a similar problem.
Rob Holding, Pablo Mari, Gabriel Magalhaes and David Luiz have all had spells as first-choice centre-back, but Arteta hasn’t been able to settle on a pairing.
However, Edu may be about to make a signing that will solve that problem once and for all.
Indeed, according to Duncan Castles, Arsenal are plotting to make a move for Dan-Axel Zagadou, and that’s a signing Gunners fans should be very excited about.
Just look at how Castles described Zagadou when speaking about him.
“Zagadou is widely considered to be the best of a very good category of young French defenders. He’s been at Dortmund since 2017, arrived on a free transfer from PSG, one of the many excellent academy products at PSG whose pathway into the first-team has been blocked by Qatar’s spending,” Castles said on the Transfer Window Podcast.
The phrase ‘very good young French central defenders’ may be underselling it a little bit.
France have an abundance of genuinely top-class young defenders. The likes of Wesley Fofana, Dayot Upamecano, Ibrahima Konate and Jean-Clair Todibo are seen as some of the best young defenders in the world, and Zagadou is reportedly considered the best of the bunch.
However, there’s another talented young French defender who Arsenal fans know all about, and his name is William Saliba.
Saliba cost Arsenal £30m, and he’s been showing at Nice exactly why they paid that much for him, and at the age of just 19, the defender still has room to grow.
Saliba and Zagadou could be two talented young French defenders playing for Arsenal, and that’s such an exciting prospect for the Gunners, especially when you consider the problems they’ve had at centre-half over the years.
The youngsters could flourish together, and with both of them being French, there will be no communication issues and that’s ever more important in the modern game.
The pair have a combined age of just 40, and if Edu can unite this duo, it could solve Arsenal’s centre-back woes for the next decade.
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