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Alexis Sanchez. for those arsenal Convince, you either love him or hate him.
He is one of the best players of the Emirates Stadium era, Scored 80 goals and provided 44 assists in 166 games. Chileans are really good, that’s for sure.
However, the manner in which he left the Gunners left a sour taste among fans. Fans thought he was chasing money as he eventually left north London for Manchester United, repeating Robin van Persie’s exit.
Sadly for him, things didn’t go as planned. Sanchez made just 45 appearances for Old Trafford, scoring five goals.
In an interview, he infamously revealed After one training session, he wished he had never left the comfort of Arsenal.
“Sometimes there are things you don’t realize until you get there and I remember the first training session I went to and I realized a lot of things. I came home after training and I told my family and my agent, ‘Is this okay? Don’t you break the contract and go back to Arsenal? They laughed and I told them something was wrong but I had signed; I still had the same feeling in those first months and we didn’t gel. A team.”
Well, with Alexis initially moving on from Barcelona, Arsenal could repeat the move this winter.
Arsenal follow La Liga stars
The name on Arsenal fans’ lips this winter is Nico Williams.
The Athletic Club winger is a player who can Mikel Arteta It is said “Want to sign a contract this month” But it’s hard to say whether a deal can be reached this month. The player has a release clause of around £50m but his wage demands are said to have made the Gunners hierarchy uncomfortable.
So why not sign another defender? As far as Arsenal is concerned, this seems to be the order of the day. Considering they finished last season with the best defensive record in the league Premier Leagueyou can’t complain too much. That said, the fact is that Arsenal have yet to add enough manpower to their forward line.
Nonetheless, reports in Spain now suggest Arteta and his team could raid La Liga. However, it wasn’t Williams, but Barcelona centre-back Ronald Araujo.
According to reports, The defender now “wants to leave the club” With “Arsenal following the player” they could make an offer to sign him in the coming days.
Araujo has also received interest from Juventus, with a transfer fee believed to be around £67m.
Why Ronald Araujo would be a good signing for Arsenal
There have been plenty of deals between Arsenal and Barcelona over the years.
Typically, the Spanish giants raid Arsenal, with club legends Thierry Henry, Alexander Hleb, Thomas Vermaelen, Alex Song, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and more all leaving London To the north, head to Catalonia for its sunny weather.
Nonetheless, Premier League teams have sought revenge over the years, and there are no two better examples than Cesc Fabregas and Alexis.
Sanchez has played in the shadow of Lionel Messi, Neymar and to some extent Pedro at Camp Nou, so his decision to leave Spain after scoring was understandable Scored 46 goals in 141 games.
He was more appreciated at Arsenal and became a regular at a big club, something he had always dreamed of.
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The situation may be somewhat similar to Araujo’s. The Uruguayan has been out all season due to a hamstring injury, but even last season he found himself in and out of league teams, Started only 21 of 32 games in La Liga He is available.
Considering Xavi has previously described the 25-year-old as “One of the best center backs in the world”, which is quite surprising.
Still, Barcelona’s loss is Arsenal’s gain. They may have plenty of defenders, but you get the feeling they’ll still be lacking if William Saliba or Gabriel get injured.
Jurrien Timber can play at centre-back but excels at right-back, while Riccardo Calafiori’s future appears to be at left-back. This made Jakub Chiviol’s performances extremely inconsistent, especially when he made a huge mistake in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals that led to Crystal Palace’s opening goal.
There is often talk of how Arsenal can improve this squad and by replacing Chiviol with Araujo they will certainly do that.
Here’s how the Barcelona star compares to the club’s best centre-backs.
|
Araujo vs Saliba and Gabriel (2023/24) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Statistics (per 90 minutes) |
Araujo |
pass through |
Gabriel |
|
Pass success rate % |
88.8% |
92.4% |
88.7% |
|
progressive pass |
4.55 |
4.13 |
3.46 |
|
key pass |
0.36 |
0.16 |
0.09 |
|
touch |
81.6 |
81.4 |
72.4 |
|
Takeover success rate % |
72.7% |
66.7% |
40% |
|
progressive carry |
1.08 |
0.42 |
0.38 |
|
Tackle wins |
0.99 |
0.68 |
0.83 |
|
intercept |
0.54 |
0.76 |
0.92 |
|
Aerial duel winning rate % |
73.2% |
59.5% |
55.4% |
|
Statistics passed FB reference. |
|||
So, as you can see, there’s not a huge difference between the trio, but there are areas where Araujo beats Saliba and Gabriel.
He is a more improved ball-handler and, interestingly, wins an even higher percentage of aerial duels.
A progressive dribble is considered if the ball moves at least 10 yards from its starting point towards the opponent’s goal or into the penalty area.
That’s likely to be music to music for set-piece coach Nicholas Joffe, who will no doubt be delighted by the idea of adding more aerial threats to his squad.
While Gabriel is one of the most free-scoring defenders, Scored 19 goals in 194 gamesAraujo certainly knows where the net is.
he has Scored 21 goals in 243 club games (one goal every 11.5 games) Gabriel has scored 25 goals in 308 games (one goal every 12 games), meaning he could become an even stronger weapon for Jove moving forward.
While the centre-back should never be Arsenal’s priority in 2025, it would be an excellent signing if they do get the deal done.
