Charlton Athletic’s midfielder Joe Aribo has reportedly become one of the primary names in the list of Arsenal’s summer transfer targets.
The 22-year-old has been a breakout star in League One having scored six goals in 26 appearances for Addicks’ promotion push, attracting interest from some of the elite clubs in Europe including Benfica and Eintracht Frankfurt.
However, the Englishman is out-of-contract at the end of this season, meaning that the youngster will be available for a minor compensation fee.
With Aaron Ramsey’s departure to Juventus already confirmed and Mesut Ozil’s Arsenal future in doubt, the signing of Aribo will have even more significance so as to solve the so-called ‘creative problems’ the Gunners have faced this season.
Securing Aribo’s signature is more like a necessity rather than a luxury for Arsenal and Unai Emery after the North-London Club had previously opted to sign players only on loan in the January transfer window and later on seeing reports emerge about how the Spanish tactician will have only £40million to spend in the transfer window.
The Gunners have a big summer ahead of them after the end of this season and need to plan some massive changes to the team if they do intend to see it thrive rather than stutter through the next season as well.
With the departure of Aaron Ramsey, there will be a void naturally created in the team. The attacking, hard-working and box-to-box midfield spot will be up for grabs for everybody in the squad who can prove worthy. If Joe Aribo signs for Arsenal, Arsenal might just have landed themselves the deal of the window by using a free transfer to make up for Ramsey’s loss.
The youngster has all the attributes that Emery looks for in a midfielder, he is efficient, hardworking, can score and at the same time create goals for his teammates. While he might not be an exact like for like replacement for the Welshman, he certainly has all the attributes needed to improve the gunners midfield already.
While, a crucial argument, that can be raised against the signing of the 22-year-old is that, the midfielder plays in English League One division and we have no way of judging beforehand his compatibility to the English top flight and his ability to slug it out where it matters.
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However, when compared to other players who have come from lower leagues, the move does make a whole lot of sense when we see how unbelievably, players like, Jamie Vardy, Dele Alli and Matteo Guendouzi moved from the lower leagues to become world class entities in the English Premiership.
Even if the move doesn’t pay off, the signing of Joe Aribo will certainly not be classified as a colossal loss for Arsenal, given what a minimal compensation fee he will be coming in for. With Arsenal having a as low as it gets budget eternally, it is important for Arsenal to keep making these shrewd acquisitions in the transfer market, in the hope of striking gold when they do, without thinking of its negligible consequences.
