If Arsenal supporters believed Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber’s additions would mark the end of their team’s summer buying spree, they are in for a surprise.
Manager Mikel Arteta is searching for another right-sided attacker to round out his team for the 2023–24 season, claims Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth.
Arsenal has acquired whom this summer?
The rather delayed arrivals of Rice and Timber, who cost a combined £143 million, will undoubtedly be made official in the coming days. This is on top of the £65 million Kai Havertz received from Chelsea earlier in the transfer season.
It is safe to argue that Arsenal’s squad is a lot stronger – or undoubtedly will be – than at the end of last season. Granit Xhaka is the only first-team regular to have left after the Swiss midfielder signed with Leverkusen for a sum of £21.4 million.
However, it appears that Arteta is not yet satisfied as he is looking for a player to compete with Bukayo Saka on the right side of the pitch.
According to Dean Jones on The Football Terrace (via TEAMtalk), if prior rumours are to be believed, Moussa Diaby of Bayer Leverkusen might be the player Arsenal and Arteta go all out to sign before the transfer market ends.
What roles is Moussa Diaby capable of playing?
With 41 appearances last season for Leverkusen in all competitions, Diaby is as adaptable as they come. He has played throughout the whole forward line. The 10-cap France international prefers to play out on the right, where he appeared 17 times last season, according to WhoScored.
In all competitions, the Frenchman scored 12 goals and provided nine assists, with the majority of those goal contributions occurring when he was deployed on the right.
As a result, he would meet the requirements for the kind of player Arteta is looking for. Diaby, who the Daily Mail estimates to be worth approximately £50 million, also demonstrated last season that he has an end product to his game.
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Leverkusen’s sports director Simon Rolfes described Diaby as a “extremely fast, technically strong” midfielder who can both outplay and spearhead counterattacks.
According to FBref, Diaby is in the top 20% for progressive carries per 90 (4.04) and is in the top 19% for non-penalty goals per 90 (0.35) among all attacking midfielders and wingers in Europe’s top five leagues.
Saka, one of the top performers in the Premier League last season, was in the top 21% (0.33) for non-penalty goals and the top 10% (5.04) for advanced carries to put it into context.
If Arsenal is going to invest £50 million on a player, it will be on someone who can genuinely compete with Saka for a starting position or at the very least serve as the Englishman’s quality backup when he needs a break.
Given that the top-ranked player most similar Diaby throughout Europe’s top five leagues according to FBref’s player comparison tool is Liverpool sensation Mohamed Salah, it is safe to assume Arsenal would receive just that.
For instance, the French phenom scored from 0.11 of his shots last season, compared to Salah’s 0.14, while they both completed nearly the same numbers of passes (24.7 vs. 24.6 respectively) and were similar in terms of shot-creating actions per 90 (3.67 vs. 3.83), which takes into account passes and take-ons that result in shots.
Therefore, Diaby might be the perfect acquisition for Arteta as he looks for the last piece of a championship puzzle.
