RE: 5 Premier League Proven Players that Arsenal should consider this summer
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Ivan Toney is 1.78m, I’m not sure he can be described as ‘big’. He’d be different from anything you’ve got now but it’d require a fundamental change in tactics to get the most out of him. Same with Watkins. These are out and out number 9s.
Declan Rice for £100m would basically be the only big money signing you’d be able to make and I think would see your squad regress in comparison to a lot of the other sides challenging at the top of the table. Definitely think it’s a position Arsenal will prioritise but maybe there are better value options.
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I think we need to adopt a different tactical approach at times, enabling the team progress the ball differently. Eddie and Jesus don't offer far differing qualities in the team.
While Toney isn't necessarily a "big man" he's a traditional number 9 that has already scored 20 goals in the season, so we know he can deliver and that tactical switch could do wonders for the team in certain games where we rely on counter attack.
I pointed out the price of Rice as being an issue and I think spending over 100m for Rice is regressive. However, if we get him for around 50-60m, which is very unlikely I must add, I think he'd be good squad depth.
Rice could feature in a variety of situations at Arsenal. Other than being the holding midfielder, he could replace Xhaka or Odegard in certain matches when we need that energy in midfield. A trio of Partey-Rice-Xhaka isn't pretty but it could get the job done when you need solidity in midfield.
As I said in the discord chat, the real test of Arteta is going to be whether he can make those changes to improve the existing system and account for the fact that everyone else will be changing and improving against you.
I like the sentiment of 'trust the process' and it's clearly given the squad confidence even when things weren't going well early on. Now we get to see whether 'improve the process' deliveries the same results.