Arsenal opted against making moves for Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey and Norwich’s Max Aarons due to their height, according to The Athletic.
The Gunners eventually decided to go after Takehiro Tomiyasu (who is 6ft 2), and fans on Twitter are scratching their heads about why two decent fullbacks were overlooked for rather trivial reasons:
Arsenal are jokemen
— ? (@Xbad_TJ) September 1, 2021
HUH?! We playing football or Stoke ?
— Marco Williams (@MarcoYasuke98) September 1, 2021
You can tell he wants big defenders. I think that’s the obsession with Chambers on the right.
— MessyMusik (@MessyMusik) September 1, 2021
for rb they focused on height and aerial ability but for cbs (white) they ignored those
— SSJ Uchiha ???????? (@ssj_uchiha) September 1, 2021
Putting a fiver for Aarons to score with a header at the Emirates. ?
— Paul Bygrave ? (@CanaryWundaboy) September 1, 2021
Are we seriously expected to believe that Arsenal’s scouting department knows what it’s doing and that Tomiyasu was first choice all along?
— Andrea Merlot ? (@Andrea21Merlot) September 1, 2021
What a load of Bull. Stunk of last option panic buy to me
— R J (Arsenal Mustafa New Boss) (@sitrafox) September 1, 2021
There is no doubt that height is a factor in the modern game, but there are numerous fullbacks in the Premier League who do just fine, even though they are not the tallest.
Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta is 5ft 10, Trent Alexander-Arnold is 5ft 9 while Kieran Trippier is 5ft 8 so that shouldn’t have been an issue with Aarons (5ft 10), in particular.
It must also be pointed out that Tomiyasu has spent more time as a centre-back than as a right-back in his career, although the Japanese international has been used more regularly in fullback areas over the past year or so.