A few years ago, we learned that Arsene Wenger was keeping tabs on Stephan El Shaarawy. At the time, El Shaarawy was an Under-21 player for Italy doing his club work for AC Milan. It was an intriguing idea as the young striker was beginning to look like a real threat at the top levels, but the move was not to be. Born in Savona, roughly 200 km south of Milan, El Shaarawy was naturally perfectly happy continuing with AC Milan.
Now, however, the idea is being revisited. Arsenal are eyeing El Shaarawy with potential intent to pursue him next summer, and the club’s interest may be a little bit more serious this time around. Now 22 years old and on loan to AS Monaco, the striker has become every bit the reliable forward piece that many anticipated. That’s not to suggest he’s among the sport’s elite at the position, because that is far from the case. But El Shaarawy is a fine player for his age and could be a welcome complementary attacker at many top clubs.
The question at this point is whether or not the Gunners really need to spend whatever it might take to pry El Shaarawy away from Milan, and that could be a very hefty fee given the striker’s youth. Some fans would likely answer that question with an emphatic assertion that Arsenal needs an infusion of young talent up top, and that would be in keeping with a lot of the rumours we’ve heard in recent transfer windows.
The chase for Karim Benzema has been well-documented, but this past summer Arsenal were offered Edinson Cavani for £50 million, too, and apparently decided against the idea because of Cavani’s age. Still just 28, he could have been the type of elite striker many Gunners fans have been thirsting for, though the club determined he wouldn’t have been worth his fee in the later years of the deal. So, once again, Arsenal entered the season without a promising addition up front.
It might have been something of a gamble keeping things much the same in the attack and hoping to compete with the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, but as we’ve seen, the restraint has paid off significantly. Alexis Sanchez is looking more and more comfortable in the EPL while taking on the role of being the team’s most dynamic scorer. In the meantime, somewhat surprisingly, Olivier Giroud has taken to a more supportive role brilliantly. Mesut Ozil has finally arrived as well, and Theo Walcott has shown flashes of the form we can’t wait to see on a more consistent basis. Sanchez and Giroud are doing the bulk of the actual scoring, but the Gunners’ attack has become a smoother and more united process, and thus a more reliable one.
Given these developments, opinions may vary as to whether or not an El Shaarawy addition would even be necessary. On the one hand, the team finally appears to have found a consistent rhythm, and even looking ahead to next summer the idea of tinkering with it is troublesome. That being said, Giroud is not getting any younger, and even if he continues to thrive as he has this season, El Shaarawy would function more as the latest complement, rather than as a principle scoring threat. If Wenger and Co. believe he can fit in to add a new dimension to the improving attack, this could become a very intriguing bit of news indeed.
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