Arsenal make ‘world-class’ midfielder top target

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, but since taking over six years ago, Mikel Arteta has had great success at Arsenal.

One area he has helped improve, alongside sporting directors, is the club’s transfers, at least as far as player recruitment is concerned.

For example, David Raya, Martin Odegarard, Gabriel Magalhães, Jurrien Timber and Ricardo Caliori all joined the group under his tenure.

However, when it comes to the Spaniard’s best signing, it’s hard to ignore Declan Rice. So fans should be excited by reports linking Arsenal with someone who could be their next version of the Englishman.

Arsenal aim for their next Rice

Arsenal spent significantly more than usual in the summer transfer window, and so some might argue that they don’t need to go big again in January or at the end of the season.

However, while this may be true in certain areas of the pitch, in midfield it’s a different story.

As things stand, only Martin Zubimendi and Rice are really at the level required to contribute regularly in the middle of the park, with the boss clearly not keen on Christian Norgaard and Mikel Merino thriving up top.

Therefore, the Gunners really need to bring in another high-quality midfielder to give the two regular starters competition and chances to rest, and it appears they have found one.

At least that’s according to a recent report from Caught Offside, which claims Arsenal are interested in Ayyoub Bouaddi.

In fact, the report revealed that the Frenchman is now top of the list of midfield targets.

However, they are not the only ones interested, as the report also revealed that Chelsea are keen on the youngster.

Therefore, this could be a complicated move to get through, but given Bouaddi’s immense potential, it’s one that Arsenal should be fighting for, especially as he could be their next Rice.

Why Bouaddi could be Arsenal’s next Rice

The first thing to say is that although Ayyoub Bouaddi is highly rated and appears to have a huge future ahead of him, Arsenal should expect him to come in and be at Rice’s level straight away.

The Frenchman is still only 18 years old so it would be an unfair expectation.

However, there’s no reason why he can’t reach that level, especially since there are already many similarities between the two men.

First of all, like the monster 41 of the Gunners, the nugget of LOSC Lille is above all a central midfielder, but one who shows impressive flexibility.

For example, he also played defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder and even central defense – sound familiar?

The second similarity is that with this ability to play in many areas, the “world-class talent,” as recruiter Jacek Kulig dubbed him, is someone who can help in the build-up as well as the defensive areas.

For example, FBref ranks him among the 1% of the best midfielders in Ligue 1 for counterattacks, 2% for successful long passes, 8% for successful restarts, 16% for touches in the opposing penalty area, and more, all by 90.

Additionally, respected analyst-turned-scout Ben Mattinson called his press resistance “elite level” and his approach “exceptional.”

Ultimately, he’s still young and has a lot of development to do, but Bouaddi already looks like a high-level talent and someone who could easily become a future Rice.

Notably considered one of the “best young talents in world football” by the Guardian’s Ed Aarons, Arsenal should do everything possible to sign him next year, before another team gets there first.

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