THE DOSSIER: The Frenchman says he is already overloaded with forwards but the Manchester United new-boy can unlock the deep defences against which the Gunners often struggle
If Arsenal are as generous as their manager when they visit Old Trafford on Sunday, they could be in big trouble. The Gunners take on Manchester United with the prize of an automatic Champions League berth up for grabs but they have already conceded the first spoil of summer to the 20-time champions after Arsene Wenger charitably declined to pursue a deal for Memphis Depay.
Just hours before the two Premier League heavyweights clash, the Eredivisie's top scorer will don a PSV shirt for the last time before completing a move to United. Louis van Gaal, who handed Depay his Netherlands debut, had to lean heavily on his relationship with the youngster to beat off competition from most of Europe's elite - but not Arsenal, and not Wenger.
"I like the player but, in that position, we have plenty," said the Frenchman. "He plays wide and we have seven or eight players who can play there."
If those words sound familiar, it is because he gave a near-identical explanation for why he passed on Cesc Fabregas last summer, citing a supposed abundance of quality already in his ranks, but now the Spaniard is a title winner and Arsenal, despite a burst of strong form, are back battling to avoid a fourth European play-off in five years.
While it is true that the north Londoners have a plethora of attacking players already – though no more than United, who leave English football's most expensive player in Angel Di Maria on the bench most weeks – they have no-one quite like Depay.
The parallels with Cristiano Ronaldo are obvious; both monsters of efficiency, both head-down, shoot-on-site assassins, both singularly focused on scoring.
It is perhaps for that very reason why Wenger passed on the Dutchman, for whom individuality comes second to the collective team identity – even Alexis Sanchez was briefly dropped early in his Arsenal career as he was brought up to speed with the slickness of the side's pass-first mentality.
Given that only Ronaldo has averaged more shots per game than Depay across Europe's top leagues, it is no real surprise that he leads the Eredivisie scoring charts and has bagged at least six more league goals than any Arsenal player this term. Wenger might instead look at his assists – a mere four despite playing in a side who have scored 89 times – or a final-third passing accuracy that would rank him 21st in the Gunners squad.
Depay is an inescapably selfish player, though that is no bad thing, but Wenger always seems more drawn to players who plot, scheme and create for others. An astonishing 68 of the Dutchman's 158 shots this season have been off target, 15 per cent more than the number of chances that he has created, and a further 29 blocked – again, figures only Ronaldo can 'better'.
His wayward attempts would represent a huge 35.2% of Arsenal's total number of off-target efforts this season, while he is even as fond of a shot from the halfway line as Charlie Adam. So direct and focused on goal, he is a world apart from Wenger's current options and has scored more than Santi Cazorla, Danny Welbeck, Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott, Tomas Rosicky and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain combined; quite simply, he is the anti-Arsenal.
But it is those very qualities of which the Gunners are in short supply and they are why he would have been so perfect. Wenger's philosophy is often the maker of its own downfall, a Catch-22 of sorts as Arsenal's dominant possession and quick, short passing pushes the opposition back into their own third only to congest the penalty box and make it far harder to score.
That trade-off was apparent against Swansea City as Arsenal had 68% possession but carved out just one 'big' chance, according to Opta. Instead, opportunities were presented to shoot from range but Wenger's men are not particularly adept at taking advantage – of their nine long-range efforts against Swansea, only two required saving from Lukas Fabianski and both were relatively easy for the former Gunner.
Across the season as a whole, they rank just 12th for long-range goals as a percentage of total goals scored while their 5.6% conversion rate, fractionally above the league average, is dwarfed by Manchester City's 10.1% (almost twice as effective). But that is not a problem Depay has.
The 21-year-old has scored as many goals from outside the box as the entire Arsenal team put together. It comes at a cost of course – he has missed the target with 56% more of his attempts than the Gunners' worst culprit, Aaron Ramsey – but it also provides that spark which can unlock an otherwise deep and impenetrable defence.
Even in his most recent game, Depay broke the deadlock with a 30-yard free kick after an opening half-hour in which PSV had recorded two-thirds possession but only one shot on target (also a long-range effort from Depay). Only Alexis is capable of such consistent individual brilliance at Arsenal but still the side feel too focused on finding a solution as a team rather than deferring to a match-winner.
Ironically, Sunday's match is more likely to reinforce the idea that Arsenal do not need a player of Depay's ilk. The trip to Old Trafford will be a rare occasion on which the Gunners will not dictate possession or be forced to huff and puff against an ultra-low block. On their last visit, in the FA Cup, they had 42% possession and three times as many shots inside the box as outside, coming away with the victory.
Should the same happen again, it will only reinforce how much United themselves need Depay's particular skillset. They went three games without scoring despite their overwhelming possession - over 70% against Chelsea, Everton and West Brom - but the PSV star has the X-Factor to break through that often-tedious ball control.
When Van Gaal shakes hands with Wenger before Sunday's game, then, he may be reminded of the Frenchman's comments about Fabregas. The Arsenal boss was not ruthless enough to risk upsetting his squad by adding a world-class player in a position in which he was already well equipped but the Catalan would have been an upgrade, just as Depay could have been.
And Van Gaal will be a very happy man if his latest recruit is even half as successful as the last player whom Wenger decided he did not need.
Source: Goal
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