Opinion: 3 reasons why Arsenal shouldn't sign Wilfried Zaha
Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha isn’t just one of the best players in the Premier League outside of the top six, he’s one of the best players in the league, period. And when the Ivory Coast forward stated his intentions to move to a bigger club than Palace this summer – preferably one that could offer him Champions League football – not many eyebrows were raised.
But while Manchester United and Tottenham were both linked with the player, it appears that Arsenal are now his most likely suitors. The Gunners are clearly interested and have reportedly submitted a £40m bid, and Zaha himself seems interested as he grew up as a fan of the club.
But should Zaha really be the player that Arsenal are targeting this season? For as good as he is, the answer is probably a no – and here are 3 reasons why.
#1 Arsenal’s attack is already strong – it’s defenders they need
Arsenal missed out on the coveted Champions League spots by just one point last season, but in all honesty, they could easily have finished as high as 3rd place in the Premier League table had they not picked up just 4 points from their final 5 matches. And while it’d be easy to argue that adding Wilfried Zaha to their side would’ve allowed them to pick up those much-needed points, that might not actually be the case.
To be quite frank, the issue that Arsenal had last season wasn’t to do with their attack. Unai Emery’s side managed to score 73 goals – 10 more than third-placed Chelsea and 6 more than fourth-placed Tottenham – and they were also able to call upon the services of two of 2018/19’s top 10 goalscorers; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who jointly won the Golden Boot with 22 goals, and French hitman Alexandre Lacazette, who chipped in with 13.
The area in which Arsenal struggled, on the other hand, was clearly in their defence. The Gunners leaked 51 goals – more than double the amount that Manchester City and Liverpool conceded and more than 4 of the teams that actually finished below them. And in their late-season losses to Crystal Palace, Leicester and Wolves, it was horrendous individual defensive errors from the likes of Shkodran Mustafi that cost them the points.
Sure, Rob Holding – who should return from injury early in 2019/20 – should help to shore up their back-line, but he’s just one player. So why would Arsenal spend the majority – if not all – of their transfer kitty on another attacker like Zaha? Surely it makes far more sense for Emery to splash the cash on at least a couple of defenders, and trust the attackers he’s already got.