Ruben Neves

[Mitch]

Modric was pretty quick, tbf.

But yeah, the obsession with athletic midfielders on this forum is a bit crazy.

Our best four midfielders of the last 10-15 years (Cesc, Santi, Ramsey, Arteta) were all "slow." The best central midfielder in the sport (Kroos), is slow, the best CMs perhaps of all time, Xavi, Pirlo, etc. were slow...

There is no athletic requirement for a top CM. It can help but if he is good enough he is good enough. We need a quality, progressive passer with calm and quality on the ball next to Thomas. These players are hard to find being very athletic, and if they are, they play for the biggest club in the world or are out of our realistic hopes (de Jong, Cacqueret, Gündogan, Pogba, Verratti, etc.).

Just because Ceballos was a failure this past season does not mean that technical players who are not athletic portents are bad. It just means Ceballos was bad.

This.

Posters on this forum would take the likes of Parker,Flaimini, Frimpong, Partey, Bissouma, Ramsey and Ndidi over Xavi, Iniesta, Santi, Cesc, Kroos, Modric, Pirlo, Sammer, Redondo, Senna, De la Pena and Cambiasso etc.

 

[El Duderino]

 

[A_G]

This is legit

 

[MutableEarth]

Isn't Neves a very good passer?

Whenever I have watched him, he looked a poor mans Cesc (which is still a very good player) good range of passing.

He's a decent passer. I would go as far as to say Xhaka is a better passer than him however. He's a pretty good player that doesn't significantly improve us. It's a sideways move really, a direct Xhaka replacement when what we need is a Xhaka upgrade - or a potential Xhaka upgrade at least. We should be signing that Lokonga kid. That's a speculative risk but he is physical AND seemingly can pass. That's the kind of player we should be targeting.

 

[kash2]

As much as I like the 4 players you mentioned, it has to be remembered that we didn't win the league with any of them. We won the league with midfielders who could also run as well as play (Vieira, Parlour, Petit, Gilberto, even Edu - all players who were both physical and technical). We need a combination of that. It is one thing to be slow but there has to be some physical offset aswell in the league - acceleration (being able to reach that top speed quickly), or agility (Santi was incredibly agile which helped his dribbling), or power. For some reason, we seem to always target midfielders who are not just slow but also lacking in those other areas physically. Neves strikes me as distinctly unremarkable in these areas, but he has a decent long pass, takes a nice corner or two and can shoot so he masks this adequately well. The problem is, he does not move the needle for us at all. We will have essentially fixed nothing.

The 'obsession' with athleticism comes from the fact that our midfield has not only been lacking technically but even more so physically for the last 5 years at least. In general, Arsenal are a pretty slow team with a small handful of fast players. We need more pace, acceleration and power in the PL - at least some combo of the above. We have virtually none in the middle of the park - we only have Partey and Willock (who everybody wants to sell). We need both some level of athleticism and technique in the middle.

not related totally, but I want to ask you this. Do you think a midfield of AMN + Willock + Saka can work/ has potential?

 

[Riou]

He's a decent passer. I would go as far as to say Xhaka is a better passer than him however. He's a pretty good player that doesn't significantly improve us. It's a sideways move really, a direct Xhaka replacement when what we need is a Xhaka upgrade - or a potential Xhaka upgrade at least. We should be signing that Lokonga kid. That's a speculative risk but he is physical AND seemingly can pass. That's the kind of player we should be targeting.

Xhaka may be a better passer (I don't think he is) but he's terrible when pressed, which is why he doesn't suit the league...would be happy with Neves, tbh...could be a bit like Liverpool going for Jota.

 

[dashsnow17]

well hot diggity

 

[TimoJens]

This is legit

So we have to promote Castles to tier 1? What a summer.

 

[Rasmi]

It’s quite clear what Bissouma is. Very good at breaking up the play and resisting the press.

But he seems like a very limited passer I almost saw no highlights of him doing anything about impressive with passes.

Neves is no pirlo.....yeah if our whole game remain the same and central midfielders job is mainly to do cross field passes to our fullbacks i can see the appeal. But we wont improve one bit with removing xhaka and putting him in there. We will still be as vulnerable in midfield with no real protection.

 

[A_G]

So we have to promote Castles to tier 1? What a summer.

He's really only worth listening to when it's a Jorge Mendes client.

 

[OnlyOne]

Finally a signing I can get behind. I want Bissouma as well. Both for 65M is decent business.

 

[MutableEarth]

not related totally, but I want to ask you this. Do you think a midfield of AMN + Willock + Saka can work/ has potential?

A year or two ago maybe. There is a good combination of athleticism and dynamism there, but having 2 players who switch off as frequently as AMN and Willock as your double pivot is asking for trouble. If you can get them to stay focused consistently, you've got a pairing that can break up play, carry the ball forward and are adequately good at getting the ball towards the more creative players. With Saka as your link point, it's a pretty fluid midfield. It lacks a bit in pure progressive passing but I do think both players at one point could have been potentially capable. How they've developed so far, I don't know if it would be feasible for that midfield to work and it honestly doesn't matter because AMN and most likely Willock are both leaving, but Saka as an advanced midfielder or an #10 really intrigues me. Saka in general intrigues me because he could actually be the alternative #10 that everybody wants us to sign. He can play both with and without ESR in that regard.

 

[OnlyOne]

Neves had a bad season, but as did Wolves as a whole, season before he’s been quoted around 65M and I think I said he’d be my number 1 midfield signing last year.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

@Tir Na Nog is he good looking enough, do we think?

Oh yes, very manly and dark looking but also kinda pretty. Would be a very welcome addition.

 

[Blaziken]

Life under dicteta. Paying £35m for this one trick phony.

 

[Riou]

How were people losing their minds over not getting Buendia, but Neves isn't good enough

 

[dashsnow17]

He's a decent passer. I would go as far as to say Xhaka is a better passer than him however. He's a pretty good player that doesn't significantly improve us. It's a sideways move really, a direct Xhaka replacement when what we need is a Xhaka upgrade - or a potential Xhaka upgrade at least. We should be signing that Lokonga kid. That's a speculative risk but he is physical AND seemingly can pass. That's the kind of player we should be targeting.

Why can't we sign a Neves and a Lokonga? Xhaka, Ceballos, Douzi, Torreira, Elneny, AMN...none of those guys have long-term futures at the club. We need almost a whole new midfield. I would buy a more proven CM aged 24-27, and a younger one like Lokonga.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

This is interesting.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

How were people losing their minds over not getting Buendia, but Neves isn't good enough

Because people love quick players. If he can dribble run we should automatically sign him.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Not exactly the signing that will have me really excited, but if he's our top target for that position then we need to get it done quickly.