Jamie Carragher has hailed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as a “brilliant” Arsenal signing but otherwise savaged the club’s recent recruitment.
Writing for the Daily Telegraph, the high-profile pundit claimed Arsenal’s squad “lacks depth, quality and balance” but highlighted one 2018 arrival who has thrived.
“In fairness, Aubameyang has been a success story of the last 12 months. He has been a brilliant signing,” Carragher told the Telegraph. “The Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan deals look a case of the head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat, using his Borussia Dortmund connections to settle on what he knows best.
“Another recruit, 30-year-old defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos, also came from Dortmund. He has struggled. So has 35-year-old Stephan Lichtsteiner, a player whose best days are gone. Goalkeeper Bernd Leno has not been convincing, either.”
OPINION
It is unsurprising that Aubameyang has blown Carragher away. The striker has scored 14 league goals this season to top the division’s charts alongside Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane, who will now be sidelined for the next two months. Since signing from Borussia Dortmund for £56million, Aubameyang has scored 24 goals from 33 league appearances, proof of a special player. Arsenal can and are building their team around the front man, but they need more gems from their recruitment team. Few Gooners will quibble with Carragher’s verdicts of Sokratis, Lichtsteiner and Leno. But, it is somewhat odd that he has not bigged up one or both of the midfield signings, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi. Torreira has mixed grit and guile, scored some cracking goals and done enough to demonstrate that he can be a Premier League force for years to come, while teenage Frenchman Guendouzi looks a real talent despite his hit-and-miss form in the middle of the pitch.