Dougie Critchley hosted a recent edition of Euro Football Daily’s Euro Transfer Talk and during the show, he spent some time discussing the reports linking Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic with a move to the Emirates.
Reports have been linking the Gunners with a move for the £18m-rated Croatia international recently, with French publication Le 10 Sport claiming that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta ‘has himself contacted’ the midfielder.
Critchley discussed this potential transfer during this recent edition of Euro Transfer Talk, saying: “One man that [Arteta] has reportedly been chasing for months is Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic. Now 32, the Croatian has been slowly shifted out of the starting 11, with 19 starts in the league and Champions League this season.
“As we all know, the Blaugrana are in a sticky financial situation and are keen to offload the FC Basel academy graduate who’s helped them to four La Ligas and one Champions League in his 309 appearances for the club.
“According to French outlet Le 10 Sport, that wish might soon become a reality, with Arteta reportedly having called Rakitic personally to assess his interest in a potential move to north London, but Arteta isn’t alone in his interest, with Mundo Deportivo claiming that Sevilla are willing to pay €10m to bring him back to Andalusia.
“Even if Rakitic can be persuaded to join Arsenal, we struggle to see the benefit of bringing him in. Clearly in decline, his tackles and interceptions have fallen from four per 90 in 15/16 to just 2.3 this term, whilst his key passes and dribbles are at an average 1 and 0.6 respectively. Surely there are more attractive long-term investments for the cash-strapped Gunners.”
Would Rakitic be a good signing for Arsenal?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts…
According to WhoScored, Rakitic earned an average overall rating of just 6.57 from his 31 La Liga appearances during the 2019/20 campaign. This made him Barcelona’s 22nd-highest rated player for the most recent La Liga season and this is also the lowest average overall rating that the Croatian has earned in any of his La Liga campaigns since moving to Spain when he joined Sevilla back in 2011.
With that in mind, it may be fair to say that Rakitic didn’t enjoy a positive 2019/20 campaign and it may be understandable why Critchley doesn’t believe that he’d be a good addition to Arsenal’s squad ahead of the 2020/21 season.