Arsenal Transfers: 5 Players Wenger Must Buy To Catch City

2. Mapou Yanga-M'Biwa

Mapou Yanga-M€™Biwa is an underexposed, talented player who seems to fit the bill perfectly for Arsenal. To begin with, Yanga-M€™Biwa is technically strong enough for the Gunners. I€™ve seen a couple of his games for Montpellier and he seems to be quite similar to our own Koscielny and Vermaelen in that he is what you may call a €˜modern€™ centre back. Instead of being like a traditional English centre back (Big, scary and dangerous) in the mould of Tony Adams, Yanga-M€™Biwa is a compact and very mobile player with strong ball skills. This enables him to deal better with the quicker pace of the modern game and the tricky players like Chicharito, Suarez and Aguero. His good ball skills also mean that he can distribute from the back and fit into Arsenal€™s passing game. Yanga-M€™Biwa would also be hugely helpful to Arsenal as he is incredibly versatile and can play across the entire back line, so as well as providing cover for the CB position, he can provide much needed back up to Sagna and Gibbs/Santos at fullback. Not only does this mean that we will get that much needed strength in depth, it also means that we don€™t face the familiar problem of top class players not joining us because they€™re scared of sitting on the bench. In addition to this, Yanga-M€™Biwa has great experience for his age as like many of our young crop, he has been a regular first team player for many years. This is a benefit for us as it means he has plenty of years left to improve further, but his inexperience is not a problem. Over his time at Montpellier, he has become their captain; which at age 23 speaks volumes about his leadership qualities and presence. All in all, Mapou Yanga-M€™Biwa would be a fantastic addition to the Arsenal squad, providing much needed versatility, squad depth and a winning mentality instilled in him through captaining Montpellier to the French League title last season. The encouraging news is that he, along with Olivier Giroud, was told that he would be allowed to leave the club this summer by Montpellier President Louis Nicollin, so there isn€™t an issue about availability; his expected price will be in the £7 million region.
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A-level student in London, I write about football, Arsenal in particular. If you like what I write, follow me on twitter @Omar_A_Mohamed