Unai Emery has a tough job on his hands. He has been handed an Arsenal team that has failed to qualify for the Champions League twice in a row and now he has reportedly only been given £50m to work with.
Ten years ago £50m would be enough to buy several world-class players, now it is the smallest transfer budget out of the top 6. The Gunners are now linked with Lorenzo Pellegrini, a 21-year-old central midfielder who currently plays for Italian side AS Roma.
The Italian player is becoming known for his strong passing ability, mirroring the football played at the Emirates. The young talent has a release clause of £27m which the young player looks to be well worth.
According to reports in Goal, the youngster might be on the verge of joining the North London club with Roma ready to cash in on the player. The report further states that the Gunners might not be willing to shell out £27 million to meet his release clause, but will try to tempt the Italian club with a £22m bid.
Martin Keown has spoken a lot about how Emery should lead Arsenal. Placing a huge emphasis on defensive transfers that must be made.
He said: “He has to assess whether Arsenal’s central defenders are good enough for him.
“Laurent Koscielny is out for six months, Per Mertesacker has retired, Shkodran Mustafi has had a difficult season and he also has two young defenders in Rob Holding and Callum Chambers.
“There will have to be a different message with more emphasis on defence than attack.
“It will be encouraging for Ivan Gazidis that Emery has already identified areas where he can improve the players already at Arsenal.
“With reports of only £50m to spend, a lot of the change is going to have to take place on the training pitch.”
“Given so many have been allowed to leave, Arsenal have to keep hold of Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey.”
The Arsenal Legend is clearly advising the new manager to bring in new defensive talent; with talks ongoing with defenders like Caglar Soyuncu this looks to be what is happening under the Spaniard.
