Arsenal Should Listen To Ian Wright When It Comes To These Three Transfer Recommendations

Arsenal Should Listen To Ian Wright When It Comes To These Three Transfer Recommendations

Gunners legend Ian Wright has had his say on who Arsenal should buy this summer. The former striker has recommended the club sign Leicester’s Ben Chilwell, Monaco’s Youri Tielemans and Lille’s Nicolas Pepe.

So should Arsenal be pursuing any of these three targets?


Ben Chilwell

Manager Unai Emery has had a tendency to use a back three pretty regularly and in that formation, Sead Kolasinac has thrived playing in a wing-back role.

However, when switching to a back four, the Bosnian has shown his limitations defensively. In contrast, Chilwell is ostensibly a left-back, but his marauding runs forward mean he is clearly capable of playing further up the pitch in a five-man defence.

He provided five assists in 36 league appearances last season, and at 22 years of age, he has room to improve in the coming years.

Youri Tielemans

Getting a direct replacement for Aaron Ramsey will be difficult. The Welshman has a unique skill set, making late runs into the box to score crucial goals, and creating chances for others.

Tielemans would play deeper than the Juventus-bound midfielder but his numbers for Leicester clearly show he could replace Ramsey in terms of goals and assists.

In a deep-lying playmaker role, he scored three goals and provided five assists in just 13 appearances for Leicester. After ending his loan spell and returning to Monaco, he will be available this summer, although there will be competition for the talented Belgian’s services.

Nicolas Pepe

Probably the least likely of the three to be signed, both because of the asking price and the interest from other elite European clubs, the Brazilian is a goalscoring winger with pace to burn.

Pepe has scored 23 goals for Lille this season, and laid on 12 assists. The Arsenal attack would be lethal if the 23-year-old linked up with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

The Gunners may only have a slim chance of getting him but Wright is right to point out that he is the exact type of player that the squad needs going forward. Ryan Fraser is likely to be the cheaper alternative, but he won’t offer the same goal threat as the Brazilian.

The Big Problem

One of the big caveats is, of course, the cost of the three transfers. Chilwell may cost in excess of £50m, Pepe around £70m and Tielemans £30m to 40m. That £150m investment would likely prove to be well above the club’s means this summer if reports are to be believed.

Even if the Gunners qualify for the Champions League, reports suggest that the transfer budget will only be £75m before sales, meaning Arsenal would have to sell players in order to finance more signings.

Considering too that the priority would be a central defender, the likelihood is only one of these players would be within the club’s price range, which does pretty much sum up where the Gunners are as a club at the moment.

David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.