Arsenal have made inquiries to sign the £68million “monster”.

The last few seasons have been nothing short of a rollercoaster Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta has dragged his side from the fight for Champions League qualification to fight for Premier League title.

However, this season the North Londoners have taken a bit of a step back, and instead of playing high-octane football like they did in their first title campaign, they have played a little more pragmatic football.

Interestingly, most fans would probably agree that most of the changes made to the playing XI that year were upgrades, such as David Raya for Aaron Ramsdale and Riccardo Calafiori or Myles Lewis-Skelly for Oleksandr Zinchenko, but there is one player from that squad many would argued that he was not adequately replaced, Granit Xhaka.

Fortunately, recent reports have linked the club with a player who has previously drawn comparisons with the Swiss international.

Arsenal target new Xhaka

According to a recent report from Football TransfersArsenal are interested in Eintracht Frankfurt star Hugo Larsson.

The report revealed that the Gunners have already made ‘several inquiries about the availability’ of the midfield gem, who joined the Eagles for around €9m – £8.6m – in May 2023.

However, if the north Londoners were under the impression they could sign the Swede for anything close to that, they would be mistaken, with the Bundesliga club currently valuing the 20-year-old at a staggering €80m, which is around £68m, according to the report, although it is unclear whether they would accept a slightly lower offer if offered.

It could be an expensive and rather complicated transfer to get over the line, but given Larsson’s ability and potential, it’s worth pursuing, especially as he’s already drawn comparisons to Xhaka.

So before we look at some of the other reasons why Arsenal might want to sign Larsson this year, let’s examine this Xhaka comparison and where it came from.

In this case, it came from respected analyst Ben Mattinson, who, looking at the young Swede, made the bold claim that he was actually “Xhaka-like” among other high-profile midfielders including Jude Bellingham and İlkay Gündoğan.

However, while the latter two are utterly sensational players, we are more interested in the former Malmö prospect’s similarities to the former Gunners ace, similarities that make him such an attractive transfer today.

Well, according to Mattinson, the 20-year-old has several strengths, which the Swiss legend demonstrated during his last campaign with Arsenal, such as the way he “receives the ball from deep and spins casually past pressing forwards,” which was one of the reasons why the Gunners’ left side was so dangerous in 22/23.

On top of that, he is too “very composed on the ball” and “resistant to pressure”, which, despite all his off-the-ball outbursts, was very much true of the former Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder.

However, perhaps the most significant similarity is that he is the Frankfurt ace “superior ball carrier” and that, as the Bayer Leverkusen star did in north London, he can “ping goes long to wing.”

With all that said, another reason why Arteta and Co might want to bring the Svarte-born gem to the Emirates this year is that Thomas Partey and Jorginho are looking the more likely they are to leave at the end of the season, the team will need fresh blood in the middle of the park, and based on the similarities Mattinson claims he shared with Xhaka, he could prove to be an excellent long-term investment.

Ultimately, midfield may not be Arsenal’s most pressing concern at the moment, but securing the services of Larsson this month or summer could be a brilliant move and one that will pay off big a few years down the line.