Alexis Sanchez. For those of an Arsenal persuasion, you either love it or hate it.
He is one of the best players of the Emirates era, scored 80 goals and registered 44 assists in 166 games. The Chilean was damn good, that’s for sure.
However, the manner in which he left the Gunners behind left a sour taste in the fans’ mouths. Fans thought he was chasing money as he eventually left north London for Manchester United in a repeat of Robin van Persie’s departure.
Unfortunately for him, it didn’t go according to plan. Sanchez played just 45 times for the Old Trafford side, scoring five goals.
In the interview, he infamously revealed that after one training session he wished he had never left the comfort of Arsenal.
“Sometimes there are things you don’t understand until you get there, and I remember the first training session I had, I understood a lot of things. After training I came home and said to my family and my agent, ‘Can you not cancel your contract to come back to Arsenal? ‘ They laughed. I told them it wasn’t good, but I’d been there before, but I didn’t have the same feeling. We weren’t united as a team at that point.”
Well, since Alexis originally moved from Barcelona, Arsenal could repeat that deal this winter.
Arsenal eyeing LaLiga star
The main name among Arsenal fans this winter was Nico Williams.
The winger of Athletic Club is a player who Mikel Arteta allegedly ‘want to sign this month’ but it is difficult to say whether the deal will be concluded this month. The player boasts a buy-out clause of around £50m, but his wage demands are said to be unpalatable to the Gunners’ hierarchy.
So why not sign another defenseman? That seems to be the order of the day as far as Arsenal are concerned. Given that they finished last season with the best defensive result in Premier Leaguecan’t complain too much. However, the fact is that Arsenal have not made enough additions to their forward line.
However, reports in Spain now suggest that Arteta and Co could launch a raid on LaLiga. But not for Williams, but for Barcelona’s central defender Ronald Araujo.
According to the report, the defender now ‘wants to leave the club’ as ‘Arsenal are looking for a player’, they could submit a bid for his signature in the coming days.
Araujo is also receiving interest from Juventus and it is thought that a move could be made for a fee of around £67m.
Why Ronald Araujo would be a good signing for Arsenal
There have been a number of transactions between Arsenal and Barcelona over the years.
More often than not, the Spanish giants attacked Arsenal, with club legend Thierry Henry, Alexander Hleb, Thomas Vermaelen, Alex Song, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and others leaving north London for the rather sunny weather in Catalonia.
However, the Premier League side have sought revenge over the years and there are no better examples than Cesc Fabregas and Alexis.
Sanchez played in the shadow of Lionel Messi, Neymar and to some extent Pedro at the Camp Nou so he understandably decided to leave Spain behind after scoring 46 goals in 141 games.
Slightly more respected in Arsenal, he became the main man of a big club, which he always dreamed of.
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The situation is perhaps a little similar to Araujo’s. The Uruguayan didn’t play the entire season due to a hamstring injury, but even last term he found himself in and out of the league team. starting only 21 out of 32 LaLiga matches was available for.
With Xavi previously describing the 25-year-old as “one of the world’s best central defenders“, this is quite surprising.
Still, Barcelona’s loss is Arsenal’s gain here. They may have plenty of defenders, but you feel that if William Saliba or Gabriel are injured, they are still missing something.
Jurrien Timber can play at centre-back but has done an excellent job at right-back, while Riccardo Calafiori’s future seems to be at left-back. That leaves Jakub Kiwior whose performance was incredibly inconsistent, notably making a big mistake that led to Crystal Palace’s first goal in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
It is often talked about how Arsenal can raise the floor of this team, and by replacing Kiwior with Araujo, they would surely succeed.
Here’s how the Barca star compares to the club’s best defenders.
|
Araujo vs. Saliba and Gabriel (2023/24) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Statistics (for 90 minutes) |
Araujo |
Saliba |
Gabriel |
|
% pass success |
88.8% |
92.4% |
88.7% |
|
Progressive additions |
4.55 |
4.13 |
3.46 |
|
Key passages |
0.36 |
0.16 |
0.09 |
|
It touches |
81.6 |
81.4 |
72.4 |
|
% download success |
72.7% |
66.7% |
40% |
|
Progressive mounts |
1.08 |
0.42 |
0.38 |
|
Tackles won |
0.99 |
0.68 |
0.83 |
|
Interceptions |
0.54 |
0.76 |
0.92 |
|
Aerial duels won % |
73.2% |
59.5% |
55.4% |
|
Statistics via FBRef. |
|||
So as you can see, there isn’t much separating the trio, but there are some areas where Araujo has more than Saliba and Gabriel.
He is a far more progressive ball carrier and interestingly, wins an even higher percentage of his aerial duels.
A carry is considered progressive if the ball is moved towards the opponent’s goal at least 10 yards from its starting point or carried into the penalty area.
That could be music to the ears of coach Nicolas Jover who will no doubt be delighted at the idea of adding an even bigger aerial threat to the squad.
While Gabriel was one of the defenders who scored the most free kicks, scored 19 goals in 194 matchesand Araujo certainly knows where the net is.
He has scored 21 goals in 243 club appearances (a goal every 11.5 games) to Gabriel’s 25 in 308 (a goal every 12 games), meaning he could be an even better weapon for Jover moving forward.
While a centre-back should by no means be Arsenal’s number one priority in 2025, if they were to complete the deal it would be a brilliant signing.
