[ad_pod ]Arsenal were on the brink of a very strong first season under Unai Emery, but it all came crashing down as the Gunners failed to beat one of just Brighton, Leicester, Wolves, Crystal Palace, Everton and Chelsea to secure Champions League football.The calamitous end to the campaign means the Gunners will contest Europa League football once again next season, and missing out on the Champions League qualification money will greatly affect Arsenal’s spending power this summer.Emery has worked on a Europa League budget before, managing to divide the cash on the likes of Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi and Sokratis last summer.This year is perhaps different though. The Spanish boss’ arrival raised a whole host of questions about style of play, recruitment policy and ambitions of the club, but what it also did was separate those players who simply weren’t good from those who struggled for form in the previous regime.The past ten months, or at least certainly the past two, will certainly have helped fans to understand exactly who can be trusted to deliver consistently for the manager and who cannot.Â
Arsenal are reportedly keen too secure the signature of Dennis Praet this summer, after Tuttosport also reported that Arsenal are looking to sign attacking midfielder back in April.
The potential signing of Praet in particular raises a lot of questions: Is he a like-for-like replacement for Aaron Ramsey? Is this the end of Mesut Ozil? But forget the other two. Ramsey lacks Ozil’s creativity and Ozil lack’s Ramsey’s tenacity.
The player who’s the most complete package, though, namely Henrikh Mkhitaryan, has struggled to find his best form at Arsenal.
Given the stylistic similarities between the Armenian and the Sampdoria ace, it’s intriguing to see how they compare statistically.Â
At first viewing the graphic above may paint Mkhitaryan out to be the more efficient option. His goal scoring and assisting statistics are better than Praet’s, and the Armenian has bags of experience to compliment his talent as well.
He’s played under the likes of Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund, Jose Mourinho at Manchester United and is now enjoying the final years of his peak performance age at the Emirates stadium, so considering it costs nothing to keep a player, why would the Gunners possibly be targeting Sampdoria’s Belgian playmaker?
Mkhitaryan certainly has the ability to score a goal out of nothing and to find a player with a neat and incisive pass, and this is all shown in his contribution of 29 key passes. However, it’s in a different area of his game that Praet shines above his Armenian counter-part.
When it comes to contributing in the attacking phase, Sampdoria’s playmaker isn’t far off the Arsenal man, and has even made more key passes than the Gunner with 37 to his name last season. However, in the defensive side of things, Praet really starts to pull away.
The Belgian has registered 63 tackles, 35 more than the Armenian’s 28, and has completed 37 dribbles compared to 20.
The stats can allude to two separate things: firstly that Emery is looking for a midfielder who can not only be creative in the final third, but who is willing to contribute heavily to the defensive side of the game. Emery is renowned for encouraging a high press, high intensity brand of football, shown often in his use of Ramsey in big games, and Praet looks equipped to fill the void left by the Welshman.
Secondly, Mkhitaryan’s strength is not only in his talent and intelligence on the ball, but more so for his versatility. He’s played everywhere across the midfield during his career, and Praet possesses this similar trait.
His ability to not only pick out a killer pass, but also to carry the ball up the pitch himself, means he can be deployed in different roles and different formations, which will suit Emery’s tinkering management style.
If the Spaniard wants to adopt a 4-2-3-1, Praet can play as the playmaker and pull everything together in a free role. However, against bigger teams Emery may want to use him out wide so that he can pack the midfield with more robust, naturally defensive options.
Praet gives the Arsenal boss the flexibility to tweak formations and to adapt more seamlessly to differing opposition, which will allow for more consistency in line-ups, something Emery’s not been able to enjoy at Arsenal so far.