Reports in Italy claim Arsenal have joined Chelsea in the race to sign A.C Milan hitman Alexandre Pato.
Pato started the season off in great fashion. His most memorable moment so far this term was his lightning-quick goal he scored against Barcelona at the Camp Nou in the Champions League. But unfortunately the Brazilian suffered an injury towards the end of September and is yet to recover.
It is widely believed that Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri prefers his other forwards to Pato, which gives interested clubs a slither of hope of landing him in the near future.
It was actually suggested in the summer that Chelsea had a bid of £30 million rejected. But it is thought that Milan are now ready to let the Brazilian leave if an offer of around £35 million comes their way. However, with Inzaghi getting older, Robinho being on-and-off and Cassano being ruled out for a long time with a health problem, it is unconclusive whether or not Milan will part company with the 22-year old Brazilian. Furthermore, the proposed fee is not Wenger-ish is it?
However stranger things have happened in footbal and If Arsenal somehow do sign Pato then he will be, in my opinion, the perfect partner for our captain Robin van Persie. Allegri is a big fan of the traditional 4-4-2 diamond and Pato is a striker who likes to play ahead of his fellow striker. At the same time, Arsene Wenger was also a fan of the 4-4-1-1 system, but due to the overwhelming amount of midfielders at the club, Wenger has been forced to use a 4-5-1 formation.
The common understanding is, due to lack of a supreme finisher like Van Persie, the Frenchman doesn’t want him to play behind the striker. If he can sign Pato then it would be a very interesting situation to deal with. It will also mean that Van Persie will taking up the Bergkamp role and Pato would play ahead of him.
For all those who do not know, Pato is a right-footed Brazilian striker who possesses supreme dribbling ability and good pace. He has been scoring an average of 16 goals per season at Milan, but has not got a good assist record, as he is a pure forward. He is also known for his link-up play. As mentioned earlier, Pato is a right-footed player, which would be ideal for Arsenal as Van Persie is left-footed.
However there is one reason as to why Milan want to sell the young forward and that is this, the Rossoneri wanted to land a midfielder in the summer but were unable to due the lack of sufficient funds available to them at the time. So there is good chance that they are looking to generate funds by selling Pato to the highest bidder.
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Wenger hasn’t exactly been forced to use 4-5-1. He’s used it for years, even 4-3-3, which he used for a while is in effect 4-5-1 as the wingers can drop back and stiffen up the midfield when on defence.
Wenger has pretty much stacked the midfield since the move to the emirates, even beforehand – the CL run to the 06 CL final was done with five mids. and Henry up front with Ljungberg occasionally playing in the hole as well as Hleb depending on injuries – that’s why we have so many midfielders. It’s how we play, sure tactics may change during a game if we’re chasing or defending a lead but 4-5-1 is by and large the Arsenal way.
pato no doubt is very good choice to support rvp..scores goals , can play up top alone + can play rcf personally i dont think he ll come in jan /next summer. coz of his relation wid club president’s daughter + cassano situation…
ideally d man to support rvp should be david silva….goal scorer plus already use to play arsenal atyle of playing…should have swaped him for fab4….barca will not be keen on villa ( since not a barca trainee).
david villa***
Another skilful, soft, expensive,inconsistent player who you would never bet you mortgage upon. We have suffered enough of those over the last few years. Who writes this garbage ?