Defensive depth a key issue for the summer

Morning.

Arsenal will travel to Madrid today ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League quarter-final second leg. We’ll have all eyes on the plane to see who’s going to make it, with reports already that Jorginho will be absent. If he has broken a rib, it’s potentially a season-ender for the Italian international, because there’s not much you can do about that injury other than wait.

And try not to cough. I broke some ribs playing football years ago, and it’s very painful when you do things like cough, laugh … or basically anything else. This is why I’m also keeping fingers crossed for Ben White after he missed the Brentford game at the weekend. His role this season has been more peripheral than anyone expected, but it’s slightly concerning that since his return from surgery on February 22nd he hasn’t been as involved as much you’d like.

In the 10 games we’ve played from that date, he has started just twice and from a total of 900+ potential minutes, he’s played just 282. There have been a couple of little absences too, which is a bit of a worry, and the knock-on effect of that was seen at the weekend when Thomas Partey had to play at right-back in order to give Jurrien Timber a rest. If we go into Wednesday without Ben White, it means Partey is the potential back-up for Timber, and then we’re looking at reshuffling midfield if that becomes a necessity.

There are relatively easy ways of doing that at the moment, with Declan Rice an obvious shift into the deep-lying position, and Mikel Merino as the left 8. If that means Leandro Trossard as the centre-forward that’s ok for a game in which, as it stands, we don’t have to score. But, let’s keep fingers crossed for White’s involvement in Madrid, making all that a moot point.

I know we’ve joked a lot about having lots of left-backs this season, but I’m really interested to see what happens this summer when it comes to our recruitment. Just to be clear, the priority this summer has to be the attack. The striker, the winger, perhaps even the creative midfield additions feel like the absolute priority, and I don’t think there’s even much in terms of a debate around that.

But, there are other things to take care of. In midfield it looks as if both Thomas Partey and Jorginho will go, and that means at least one addition – even if I have a suspicion that a striker arrival might see Mikel Arteta think about Kai Havertz more often as a midfield option. That’s where he was initially envisaged, but if you lose two ‘sixes’, I don’t think you can get away without a signing. Martin Zubimendi, perhaps, but not an area you can ignore.

Then there’s work to do defensively. Kieran Tierney is going to Celtic, I’m pretty sure Oleksandr Zinchenko will depart, and I think there’s probably going to be a decision around Jakub Kiwior. I understand the people who say ‘We should keep him, he knows the club, he’s an able deputy’, and I think that’s quite reasonable. The bigger question for me is about what the player himself wants, and I suspect at 25 years of age – having demonstrated his ability to play first team football for a side like Arsenal – there will be plenty of clubs out there who would give him the opportunity to play week in, week out.

I don’t think he’ll want to remain as Gabriel’s understudy again, and that will probably be the key driver to his future. After that, we have Ben White; Riccardo Calafiori’s first season has been injury hit and that’s a concern; and it’s fair to say that Takehiro Tomiyasu’s injury problems are now a feature, not a bug. It’s really sad to see how badly he’s been impacted, and the fact his return – all going well – isn’t scheduled until the end of this year tells you how serious it is for him.

Add to that a key player (Gabriel) returning from hamstring surgery, and as much as we’re all focused on the shiny new attackers, there’s work to do at the back too. So, when we’re linked with defenders as we get closer to the opening of the transfer window, it’s something to bear in mind. It’s not simply a case of Mikel Arteta collecting another left-back, but the reality of how we put together our squad to help us improve again next season.

Arteta loves versatility, but I suspect he’d rather avoid another season where he has to play his first choice DM as a right-back on 14 occasions. I think if Arsenal could find another Tomiyasu, a quality player who could operate in any one of the four defensive positions, that would be the ideal kind of signing, but that’s very much easier said than done. Over to you, Andrea Berta.

Ok, I’m gonna leave it there for this morning. Join us later for a preview podcast on Patreon, and if you haven’t had a chance to listen already, the Arsecast Extra is below.