The last few seasons have been nothing short of a roller coaster for Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta has dragged his side from fighting for Champions League qualification to battling for the Premier League title.
However, this season has seen the North Londoners take a slight step back, and instead of playing the high-octane football they did in their first title-challenging campaign, they’ve played slightly more pragmatic football.
Interestingly, most fans would probably agree that most of the changes made to the XI that played that year have been upgrades, like David Raya for Aaron Ramsdale and Riccardo Calafiori or Myles Lewis-Skelly for Oleksandr Zinchenko, but there is one player from that team many would argue has not been replaced adequately, Granit Xhaka.
Fortunately, recent reports have linked the club with a player who’s previously won comparisons to the Swiss international.
Arsenal target the new Xhaka
According to a recent report from Football Transfers, Arsenal are interested in Eintracht Frankfurt star Hugo Larsson.
The report has revealed that the Gunners have already made ‘several enquiries into the availability’ of the midfield gem, who joined the Eagles for around €9m – £8.6m – in May 2023.
However, if the North Londoners were under the impression that they’d be able to sign the Swede for anything close to that, they’d be mistaken, as per the report, the Bundesliga club currently value the 20-year-old at a whopping €80m, which is about £68m, although it is unclear whether they’d accept a slightly lower offer if presented with one.
It could be a costly and rather complicated transfer to get over the line, but given Larsson’s ability and potential, it is worth pursuing, especially as he’s already won comparisons to Xhaka.
How Larsson compares to Xhaka
So, before looking into some of the other reasons Arsenal might want to sign Larsson this year, let’s examine this comparison to Xhaka and where it has come from.
In this instance, it has stemmed from respected analyst Ben Mattinson, who, when looking into the young Swede, made the bold claim that he was, in fact, “similar to Xhaka” among other high-profile midfielders, including Jude Bellingham and İlkay Gündoğan.
However, while the latter two are utterly sensational players, we are more interested in the former Malmö prospect’s similarities to the former Gunners’ ace, similarities which make him such an appealing transfer today.
Appearances
61
63
Goals
3
6
Assists
4
3
Goal Involvements per Match
0.11
0.14
Well, according to Mattinson, the 20-year-old has several strengths, which the Swiss legend demonstrated during his final campaign with Arsenal, such as the way he “receives the ball from deep and turns casually past pressing attackers,” which was one of the reasons the Gunners’ left-hand side was so dangerous in 22/23.
On top of that, he is also “very composed on the ball” and “press resistant,” which, for all of his outbursts off the ball, was very much true of the former Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder.
However, perhaps the most significant similarity is that the Frankfurt ace is “a top ball-carrier,” and that, like the Bayer Leverkusen star did in North London, he can “ping long passes out to the wings.”
With all that said, another reason that Arteta and Co might want to bring the Svarte-born gem to the Emirates this year is that, with Thomas Partey and Jorginho looking increasingly likely to leave come the end of the season, the team will need fresh blood in the middle of the park, and based on the similarities Mattinson claims he shared with Xhaka he could prove to be an excellent investment for the long term.
Ultimately, midfield might not be the most pressing concern for Arsenal at the moment, but securing the services of Larsson this month or in the summer could be a brilliant decision and one that pays off in a big way a few years down the line.
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