Former Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour believes that Arsenal must replace captain Laurent Koscielny to have any chance of breaking into the top four next season.
Arsenal are reportedly set to conclude a deal for Lille winger Nicolas Pepe for a club-record fee, though Parlour is concerned that the current makeup of the Gunners’ defence leaves a problem area unsolved with time running out in the transfer window.
Speaking on talkSPORT, the Gunners hero believes that despite links to Kieran Tierney at full-back, the hole that could be left by Koscielny – whose future is still in the balance following his refusal to join the club’s pre-season tour – could harm the team’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
He said: “The worry for me, has always been the defence. Defenders [are] probably the key area that we are missing at the moment.
“We know about the Koscielny situation – that’s not been great for the club, so that is the area, for me, where they’ve got to address big-time if they’re going to have any chance of getting in that top four.
“If you do lose Koscielny, he’s your captain, a real experienced player at the back so they need to replace him.”
Arsenal have recruited in central defence this summer with the acquisition of William Saliba – although he will spend next season on loan at Saint-Etienne.
That leaves Arsenal with the same defence that conceded 51 goals last season in the Premier League – minus skipper Koscielny if he does indeed depart.
And despite the return of Rob Holding to the Arsenal fold (with the centre-back making a comeback to training following his long-term injury), Parlour’s concerns could be justified – as Arsenal seem to have addressed issues that weren’t there, with their to-be-confirmed purchase of Pepe and previous additions of Dani Ceballos and Gabriel Martinelli.
The Gunners’ frontmen Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored 50 goals between them in the last campaign – so with Arsenal’s strikeforce performing well, it could be assumed that Emery believes that for the upcoming year at least, the Gunners are better off going all-out on attack considering their transfer dealings so far.
