According to an earlier report from the Guardian, Arsenal were interested in signing Italian forward Stephan El Sharaawy from his former club AC Milan. However, a move to the Premier League failed to materialise and the highly-rated youngster continued to flourish in the Serie A.
A product of Genoa’s youth system, El Shaarawy made his move to AC Milan in 2011 but it was in the 2012-13 season where he had his breakthrough, scoring 19 goals for the Italian giants across all competitions. However, his progress stalled due to a long-term injury in the 2013-14 season which limited his involvement to only 6 appearances in the Serie A and also led to his exclusion from Italy’s squad for the 2014 World Cup.
He spent time on loan at Monaco and Roma in the following seasons and joined the latter after impressing on his loan stint. Since then, he has made a total of 120 appearances for Roma across all competitions, accumulating 34 goals and 21 assists.
Standing at 5ft. 10 inches, El Sharaawy has the gift of low centre-of-gravity owing to his relatively short stature. A fast, agile and fleet-footed attacker, the 26-year-old is primarily a left-winger of a left-sided forward by trade but has also been used on the right as a conventional winger.
The Italian is known for his ability to cut inside from the left onto his stronger right foot where he either has a crack on goal or creates chances for his teammates. However, it is his incredible eye for goal and powerful shooting from range that make him stand head and shoulders above most of the wide-forwards in the world.
El Sharaawy has above-average passing skills and is more than capable of manufacturing defence-splitting through balls to pick out the runs of his teammates. His agility and instant acceleration combined with his silky dribbling skills allow him to create openings down the wide areas.
The 26-year-old has been in sublime form in the Serie A this season, scoring 5 goals from 10 appearances which include three Man of the Match distinctions. He has averaged 2.7 shots and 1.6 key passes per game in the Serie A but he has fared much better than those numbers actually show.
To put things into perspective, Arsenal should re-kindle their interest in the Italian ahead of the January transfer window to provide competition for Alex Iwobi. El Sharaawy is a much more finished product than the Nigerian and having him in the ranks would definitely add another dimension to the Gunners’ attack.
Unai Emery has used Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the left of his 4-2-3-1 formation but he is more dangerous when deployed as the spearhead of the attack.
Alex Iwobi, on the other hand, is good at link-up play but someone like El Sharaawy is certainly an upgrade on him as far as the eye for goal is concerned. Furthermore, the Italian is a much more composed finisher than Iwobi, something that Arsenal need to achieve a better goalscoring record.
That said, Arsenal should re-ignite their interest in him and table a bid to land him in January.