Unai Emery Demands For World-Class Defensive Addition

According to the latest reports, Unai Emery has demanded for the signing of a world-class centre-back this summer.

The Spanish manager is ready to spend every single buck available to him for a defensive talisman after the woeful backline performances this season. The Gunners are almost out of the Premier League top-four race after consecutive defeats to Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester City.

Reports claim that Chelsea loanee, Kurt Zouma is on Emery’s shortlist along with names like Harry Maguire, Toby Alderweireld and Getafe’s Djene Dakonam. Two of the players listed are associated to rival outfits while the Leicester City ace, Maguire is valued at a ridiculously high fee.

Liverpool’s answer to their defensive problems was shelling out £75m for Virgil van Dijk and finding a gem in £8m Andrew Robertson. Arsenal spent around half that fee two seasons back and received Shkodran Mustafi in return.

A world class defender in the current market will definitely cost a sweat-inducing transfer sum. Plus there is no guarantee that simply one centre-back signing would solve all of Arsenal’s defensive issues.

Laurent Koscielny is nearing retirement age with an Achilles history and Mustafi is as good as gone from the club ranks. That only leaves a 30-year-old Sokratis Papastathopoulos as the established centre-half figure.

Rob Holding’s recovery from the ACL tear will not be anytime soon and the Englishman is still not a finished product. The same can be said of Calum Chambers who has played the majority of his loan spell at Fulham in the defensive midfield position.

Konstantinos Mavropanos is also a talented ‘prospect’ at best. Let us not even get started on the fullback positions.

Emery might have to tone down his expectations and work with the resources he has at hand. He was not too comfortable at Paris Saint-Germain with the massive egos in the dressing room.

Perhaps he can rely on his coaching and scouting techniques to build an Arsenal squad around his own philosophy and start challenging for the title once again.