Pablo Fornals would be the ideal man to replace Aaron Ramsey at Arsenal
According to the Mirror, Arsenal are interested to sign Villarreal’s Spanish midfielder Pablo Fornals in January as a replacement for Aaron Ramsey.
Ramsey is expected to head for the exit door next summer upon the expiry of his contract but Unai Emery is keen to land Fornals in January to allow him some time to acclimatise to the Premier League ahead of the Welshman’s departure.
Unai Emery signed Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi in the summer to add solidity to the midfield and both the players have proven themselves to be a perfect fit for the manager’s high pressing tactics in the centre of the park.
The Villarreal midfielder has a release clause of £17.8 million in his contract and it should not be an uphill challenge for the Gunners to trigger that clause in January.
The 22-year-old has been a regular for Villarreal for the past couple of seasons but it was during the 2017-18 La Liga campaign that he rose to prominence with a series of impressive displays in the midfield. Fornals racked up as many as 12 assists in the Spanish top flight last term to go with his 3 goals and has hit the ground running this season as well, registering a goal and an assist from 12 appearances.
The Spaniard has also been in red-hot form in the Europa League this season and was the star of the show as the La Liga outfit thrashed Rapid Wien 5-0 last month.
A technically-gifted central midfielder who is capable of playing both as a box-to-box No.8 and a No.10 behind the striker, Fornals has the ability to carry the ball forward with purpose from the deeper areas of the pitch.
The 22-year-old also has a keen eye for a pass and uses his vision and intelligence to pick out the runs of his teammates in the final third.
A hardworking midfielder with a lot of tenacity, Fornals also tracks back and uses his superior game-reading ability to break up the play with crucial tackles and interceptions. In other words, he is not the fastest player on the pitch but he makes up for it with his nimble feet, tactical intelligence, sharp reflexes and a deadly eye for goal from long range.
Fornals averages 2.5 shots, 1.6 key passes, 1.6 dribbles, 1.8 tackles and 1 interception per game this term in the La Liga, figures which reveal that he might just be the utility player that Arsenal need to add a new dimension to their midfield options.
Arsenal have Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan who are both high-quality creative midfielders but neither of them has been able to deliver the goods on a consistent basis this season. Mohamed Elneny, on the other hand, hasn’t really been considered by the manager for a starting role in the Premier League.
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Moreover, Emery’s philosophy demands a lot of tenacity and high work-rate from the midfielders, which is exactly why Torreira and Guendouzi have excelled under the Spaniard. However, that hasn’t quite been the case with Mkhitaryan and Ozil and both of them have struggled to cope with the new style of play at the Emirates.
That said, Arsenal should not hesitate to splash the cash to sign the 22-year-old from Villarreal as he has the potential to develop into a useful long-term servant to the club.
