Arsene Wenger is understood to be concerned about the impact that crocked stars like Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby will have over the season, and has reportedly sent out a team to Spain in order to negotiate a deal for Real Madrid’s 24-year-old midfielder Esteban Granero, who is also being tracked by Qatari-backed Spanish side Malaga.
Though Granero isn’t a regular under Jose Mourinho, the Spaniard did manage to make 32 appearances for Real last season, and it’s believed that Mourinho is reluctant to let him leave the club anytime soon.
Granero is currently valued at £6 million, and according to Goal.com, an Arsenal delegation was in Madrid last week to begin negotiations over a possible transfer in January.
Wenger was hoping to have Diaby (one of his injury concerns), back in action this month, but the 25-year-old picked up a hamstring problem to delay his comeback for a further three weeks.
When asked about Diaby, Wenger said:
‘You won’t see him [Diaby] for a while, the next three weeks.’
‘I am worried but I was more worried three months ago.’
‘His ankle was not good but the surgery went very well then.’
‘Now his balance has changed so he has to adjust his muscular strength.’
‘He has had two small muscular concerns and if he can get rid of them in the next two to three weeks he will be ready.’
‘It’s a good time to get him right as we have a two-week break after Saturday.’
In my opinion we have enough midfielders at our disposal as it is. They are not as experienced as many would like, but they are all talented and have their own individual qualities. We have the usual suspects of Ramsey, Song and Arteta, as well as Rosicky, Benayoun and Arshavin who can all offer us something in attack, but we probably need another spare central midfielder who has vision and creativity in abundance, so maybe Granero, who likes to attack, create and pick out a pass, would be a good acquisition this winter.
He could plug the gap left by Arteta, Benayoun or Ramsey when/if they need to be rested or for some reason are unavailable. He’s cheap and doesn’t get that many games at Madrid, so a move to the Emirates may appeal to him.
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if hes not good enough for Madrid he isn’t good enough for the Arsenal. Besides he’s not better than song and coquelin can be a force very soon.
He’s not an improvement over Arteta – they’re somewhat similar players who are neither ultra attacking nor ultra defensive – they like to play deep and provide the transition between defense and attack. If we buy a midfielder it has to be a top class creative force.
Sign Gotze and Hazard!