OPINION
Arsenal boss Unai Emery will be taking too much of a risk by spending £30million on Barcelona’s Andre Gomes, and should instead stick with proven Premier League midfielders in his current squad.
The Independent has reported that Emery is a huge fan of the Portuguese midfielder, but that the Gunners would have to sell in order to raise funding for the transfer.
This would represent a risky piece of transfer business, as the Gunners already possess a number of premium quality midfield players, who have a wealth of Premier League experience.
Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka, the likely pairing at the centre of the park are already backed up by Mohamed Elneny, with Lucas Torreira set for a medical according to the Uruguayan’s father, who spoke on Radio CRC as quoted by the Metro.
With Arsenal already having to spend to bring in Torreira, it would be detrimental to the club to further the spending to land Gomes, who only managed 90 minutes twice for Barcelona last season.
In fact, nine of Gomes’s 16 first-team appearances last season were less than 45 minutes in duration, evidencing the Portuguese lack of impact amongst the squad.
Further to this, the 24-year-old missed time due to three separate injury problems last season alone, which is a quality Arsenal should not take lightly.
Emery should look to exercise his current squad options, who know the league and are comfortable within it, instead of parting ways with £30million to land an unimpressive flight-risk.