Arsenal fans have taken to Twitter to react after stumbling across old footage of Mikel Arteta talking about Virgil van Dijk.
What’s the story?
Well, after Liverpool beat Arsenal 3-1 at Anfield in September 2020, Arteta told Sky Sports about how impressed he was with his side’s pressing.
However, the Spaniard complained that Liverpool have Van Dijk, who is able to hit a 60-yard pass to Mohamed Salah and get the Reds out of danger.
At the time, Arsenal didn’t really have anyone who could do that, and in truth, Arteta sounded jealous in the interview.
However, Arteta spent big on Ben White back in July, splashing £50m on the centre-back who is known for his exquisite passing range.
Now, Arsenal do have their own Van Dijk – in terms of passing range, at least – and he’s proving to be just what Arteta wanted.
Smartly, an Arsenal fan on Twitter went to the effort of finding clips of White spraying passes around the pitch, to pair with the footage of Arteta’s comment.
It seems the Gunners boss knew exactly what he wanted, and now has the ideal centre-back for his system.
Arsenal have Ben White, now they need more
As one fan below wrote, it’s no good having the Van Dijk to Arsenal’s system if you don’t also have the Salah.
Currently, White is spraying passes to the likes of Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe, the latter of whom isn’t really doing the business right now.
What Arteta needs next is a mobile forward, who will always be on the shoulder of the last man to make runs in behind.
If Arsenal can find that, White can then start to create goals out of nothing from the back – he just needs someone to aim for.
For now, let’s see what the Arsenal fans on Twitter have been saying about the footage…
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