Having watched Arsenal’s draw against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, it feels as if an obvious transfer target has emerged from Barcelona this summer.
Mikel Arteta’s side weren’t poor by any means in their 2-2 draw against the German champions, and could perhaps have an advantage heading into the second leg.
Although Bayern may feel more comfortable at the Allianz, the onus will now be on the home team to attack Arsenal’s block.
And given the mistakes Arsenal made in transition at the Emirates, we are unlikely to see the same in the second leg, with the dynamic perhaps now leaning in Arteta’s side’s favour.
That being said, almost 95% of Arsenal’s issues on Tuesday were caused by Leroy Sane.
The pacey winger completely had the better of Jakub Kiwior in the first half, which led to his half-time substitution.
And whilst many may have thought that Takehiro Tomiyasu was therefore the answer, the Arsenal manager turned to Oleksandr Zinchenko – who was intended to give the home side more control.
That worked to a degree, but the situation demonstrated a signing that Arsenal do need to make this summer.
Arsenal need to sign Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde to solve their left-back issues this summer
During TNT Sports’ live coverage of the game, Owen Hargreaves repeatedly said that Arsenal don’t currently have a weakness.
But they do, at left-back.
If you could combine the skillet of Kiwior and Zinchenko you would have the perfect player for Arteta on the left.
But a player like Ben White, who does all of that at right-back right now, is incredibly rare to find.
And given there’s a short supply of world-class left-backs in European football right now – Arsenal should make a bee-line for the next big prospect, Alejandro Balde.
The 20-year-old Barcelona academy graduate didn’t feature in last night’s Champions League game owing to injury, but really is the complete package.
Alejandro Balde certainly won’t be cheap
Whether it’s driving through the centre of the pitch or just overlapping his winger, Balde can do it all.
But given he also has ‘incredible‘ defensive attributes to match, Balde certainly wouldn’t come cheap.
Arsenal should be in a strong position to invest heavily again this summer, and perhaps they would be best off focusing the majority of their funds on the young Barcelona star.
With seven caps for Spain already, the full-back could demonstrate his rich array of talent at the Euros this summer if he’s fit, something that will only make a deal more difficult.
And whilst some Arsenal fans would understandably rather see a Victor Osimhen or Viktor Gyokeres through the door, perhaps a deal for Alejandro Balde would be the smartest.
That all being said, Harry Kane was very complimentary about one Arsenal player after Tuesday’s draw.
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