Should Arsenal’s midfield magician be persuading his compatriot to move to the Emirates?

Arsenal’s main problems this season have come moving forward. Yes, I’m sure a lot of people will point their fingers at what they take to be a rather shaky back-four, but I think this is a little unfair for a defense that usually finds itself on the back-foot thanks to play breaking down in the final third. This allows opposition teams to counter-attack quickly whilst the Arsenal midfield is out of position and has left Arsenal’s goal line rather exposed this season.

It strikes me that the Gunners need to invest on players who won’t be so wasteful in the final third. Players who can not only stick the ball in the back of the net, but also use their strength, stamina and passion to hold the ball up and keep play ticking over.

Enter Fernando Llorente, Athletic Bilbao’s contract rebel striker who has been linked to Arsenal for some time now. His Bilbao contract is up next summer and he’ll be available for free when it’s run down. It’s likely that his club will want to cash-in this January, whilst they can still attract a fee for him too. Arsenal may well be able to profit.

And now we’re hearing reports that Arsenal’s midfield magician Santi Cazorla has been attempting to persuade his compatriot Llorente to move to the Emirates at the nearest available opportunity. Whilst no quotes have been offered up to provide evidence of this, I can’t help but cross my fingers and hope there’s some truth to it. Here’s the source anyways.

Llorente has already admitted he’d fancy a move to the Premier League: “I really like the Premier League and I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion that it’s a league which appeals to me a lot. You never know. It’s one good option in terms of my future but we’ll have to wait until the end of the season to see what happens.”

So it seems that things are finally coming together and the likelihood of an Arsenal move is growing. Things are still on a speculative level at the moment, but it’s clear that Llorente has the physicality, tenacity and goal-scoring prowess to help Arsenal climb back up the table.

He’s the kind of player who could help the Gunners compete at the top of the game and would be a step up from the likes of Olivier Giroud and Gervinho. So let’s hope Santi Cazorla is as persuasive off the pitch as he is on it.

What’s your take? Should the Gunners be pursuing Fernando Llorente?

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