Arsenal could be looking to completely alter their style of play after a surprise reveal from West Ham’s Tomas Soucek.
The Czech Republic international recently claimed that growing up as a kid, Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas was his footballing idol.
This comes as a shock because the style of play between the two players is completely different, as Soucek adopts more of a physical approach, whereas Fabregas was known for his excellent technical ability.
Despite this, Arsenal could use Soucek’s admiration as an incentive to sign him and follow the Patrick Vieira path who dominated the midfield for the Gunners before being replaced by Fabregas.
Speaking on BT Sport Soucek was asked about who his favourite player was as a 12-year-old, and he gave a one-word answer claiming that it was Fabregas.
Fabregas had originally joined Arsenal from Barcelona as a 15-year-old in 2003 after having played in the famous La Masia academy alongside the likes of Lionel Messi.
The Spaniard came to the club with bags of potential and really hit the ground running after he was tasked with replacing Vieira to control Arsenal’s midfield in 2006.
Wenger took the midfield in a whole different direction after seeing Fabregas as Vieria’s successor and aimed to sign central midfielders due to their technical ability rather than their physical attributes.
However, Arteta could revert back to the signing of more physical central midfielders, if he uses Soucek’s admiration for Arsenal and Fabregas when he was growing up.
The West Ham midfielder is one of the most aerially dominant players in the league, who is a constant threat from set-pieces, and his engine to cover areas of the pitch is also impressive.
Arsenal will be in desperate need to sign a midfielder in the summer transfer window, as football.london understands that the Granit Xhakais still attracting interest from Italian side Roma, which could see him depart from the club, while Mohammed Elneny’s contract is set to expire at the end of the season.
This will leave the Gunners incredibly short in the midfield positions, so if Arteta’s finish above West Ham in the fight for Champions League football ahead of next season, then Soucek could certainly be an option.
Make sure you have subscribed to The Arsenal Way and the Fan Brands team along with plenty of your football.london favourites will be producing daily Arsenal content for you to enjoy including match reactions, podcasts, football fun and interviews
