Arsenal are having a serious issue regarding their injury list. The Gunners will be facing a midfield crisis in the North London derby against the Spurs this weekend. As they will be without Rice, Merino and captain Odegard.
New signing Mikel Merino suffered a shoulder injury in his first ever training session with the Gunners. He will be out for at least 2-3 months. Even full-backs Kiwior, Tomiyasu, Timber and striker Jesus is out due to injuries.
The list keeps rising after the latest injury of Martin Odegard. On Monday night he picked up a knock during the clash against Austria in the Nations League. While fighting for the ball Austrian midfielder Christoph Baumgartner sprained the ankle of the 25 year old Norwegian.
As per rumors the injury is serious and nothing can be told until the scan reports are out. Odegard have already left the national side to join the Arsenal camp. He will be assessed there by the Arsenal staff.
If Arsenal doesn’t sign a free agent, the Emirates won’t see a new face until the winter transfer window opens in January. However, Arteta’s side have already planned on to sign a 21 year old Spaniard as their first signing of the next window to reinforce the midfield.
Who is the Spaniard?
According to the reports of CaughtOffisde, the Gunners very much keen to bring in Javi Guerra from Valencia. Guerra has established himself as one of the best talents in La Liga since his break out season with Valencia. The Spanish u-21 international have been a regular starter for the Los Che. He has made over 50 appearances for them scoring five goals and one assist.
The development of Guerra hasn’t got unnoticed as many clubs wanted to bring him in this summer. Spanish giants Atletico Madrid was very close to sign him. But manager Simeone got his hands over Chelsea‘s Conor Gallagher.
Guerra was even linked with Manchester United last year. But Valencia chief Corona decided not to sell the Spaniard. He believed Guerra had a lot of unlocked potential. So they promoted him to the first team to develop and reach his level. So that they can sell him for a greater amount of money in the future.
Guerra has a mind bursting transfer clause of £84m but currently Valencia will be accepting bids for less than £25-26m. Premier League clubs Arsenal and Aston Villa are reportedly interested to sign the 21 year old. The Gunners would definitely want to strengthen their midfield with fresh young players like Guerra.
Currently Arsenal’s midfield consists of two players- Partey and Jorginho on the wrong side of their 30’s. Both of the veteran midfielders have only one year left in their contracts. That is why the Gunners considering to bring Guerra at the Emirates. It will be interesting to see the race between Villa and Arsenal for the 21 year old. However, the Gunners will be in advantage as the youngster prefers the North London club over Villa.
Gunners encounters another hurdle ahead of the tough month
In the absence of captain Odegard the Gunners will be in a deficit. They will be participating in three different competitions this month. After Rice’s red card offence against the Seagulls in the matchday 3, he will be suspended to play against the Spurs this Sunday.
The Gunners will be facing Atalanta in the Champions League, Manchester City in the Premier League and Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup in a span of two weeks.
Even after the return of Rice there will be only two midfielders left in the side beside of him after the recent injury of Odegard. He will be at least out for a month as it seems. To miss such a important player in these matches will definitely affect their standings at the end of the season.
It is predicted that Arsenal will be playing with a midfield trio of Partey, Jorginho and Havertz as a number 10. While Trossard will be playing as a striker in front of Havertz. We can even see loanee Raheem Sterling starting in his first ever game for the Gunners. Fans will be praying to overcome this bad phase as soon as possible.
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