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21/12/2022 | 07:10pm
Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta is eyeing reinforcements forward of the January switch window and he might look to revive the membership’s curiosity in Juventus midfielder Manuel Locatelli.
The Italy worldwide was linked with a swap to the Emirates in the course of the summer time, with some stories suggesting that that they had even bid for him, and has now reappeared on the Gunners’ radar, along with his £91.5k-per-week contract set to run out on the Allianz Stadium on the finish of the present marketing campaign.
In response to Calciomercatoweb, the north London giants might tempt him to affix within the new yr by providing the Turin outfit a swap deal for both Granit Xhaka, who has lengthy been linked with the Outdated Girl, or Thomas Partey.
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It stays to be seen if that will entice the Serie A facet right into a sale or if any cash could be concerned however within the £44m-rated Locatelli, Arteta might be handed his personal model of West Ham United and England sensation Declan Rice.
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FBref liken his statistical profile to that of the 23-year-old, with the likes of Casemiro and Youri Tielemans as different comparable gamers.
And it’s simple to see why as Locatelli is presently Massimiliano Allegri’s fourth-best performer within the league on the minute, by way of WhoScored, the place he has averaged a squad-high 2.3 tackles, in addition to 1.3 interceptions and 0.9 photographs per sport.
This defensive stability and knack for drifting ahead may be very a lot how Rice has operated on the London Stadium this time period. Certainly, the Englishman has averaged 2.4 tackles, 1.6 interceptions and 1.2 photographs per sport within the Premier League this time period, additionally per WhoScored.
As soon as described as a “actual dominator in midfield” by scout Jacek Kulig, Locatelli might present Arteta with one other helpful – and robust – depth choice within the midfield and ideally, it wouldn’t be on the expense of both Xhaka or Partey as each nonetheless have an element to play within the Gunners’ shock title cost.
However what makes the Juventus gem a doubtlessly higher different to the present Arsenal duo is his skill to fireplace defence-splitting passes from deep midfield, as put completely by soccer author Raj Choban, who tweeted: “Manuel Locatelli, what a participant. Kimmich-esque along with his skill to slice aside a defence from taking part in as a 6.”
As such, sporting director Edu Gaspar should look to safe a everlasting deal for the Italian, even when it’ll value in extra of his £44m worth with out swapping any of Arteta’s first-team stars.
AND in different information, Edu eyeing discount swoop for £25m “phenomenon” as Arsenal “prepared” to make January bid…