Following yesterday’s North London derby, Arsenal and Mikel Arteta now need to reignite their interest in Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz.
That’s after Jorginho’s costly mistake that allowed Spurs to equalise just moments after Bukayo Saka put Arsenal ahead.
Whilst this may seem reactionary to an isolated mistake, this is an issue that has been bubbling for Arsenal.
In Declan Rice Arsenal have a world-class player who can start for the club for the next 10 years.
However, if Rice were to get injured, as we saw for the first time in his Arsenal career yesterday, problems do exist.
Thomas Partey has been consistently unavailable through injury over the past few years and can’t be relied on by Arteta.
Moreover, Jorginho isn’t equipped at this stage of his career to cope with Arsenal’s gruelling schedule.
Declan Rice was afforded the luxury of playing in an advanced role early in the season – a distant memory just a month or so later.
Arteta can’t rely on Jorginho or Partey at Arsenal, and the answer could be Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz.
Arsenal need to sign Luiz to match Arteta’s ambition
Arsenal have been long credited with interest in Luiz, and although he may now be more expensive than a previous £40m price tag, he would be worth the outlay.
If Luiz replaced either Partey or Jorginho then Arsenal’s squad would be in a much better position.
‘Unbelievable‘ Luiz would allow Arteta the flexibility to experiment with his Arsenal midfield once again.
Moreover, Luiz has proved at Aston Villa that he can be a reliable presence across the season.
If Arsenal seriously want to become an elite force in Europe and the Premier League, they need to be ruthless.
Similarly to the idea of replacing the likes of Reiss Nelson with Pedro Neto, Arteta needs to be decisive in his choices.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal squad is in an excellent place, but it’s far from perfect, and Luiz could help it reach that next stage.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
