Giannelli Imbula, midfielder for Marseille, has been linked with a transfer to the Emirates since the beginning of May. The main argument behind the need to sign the French starlet is to bolster the depth in the midfield with the well predicted departure of Abou Diaby who has been plagued with injury during his tenure in North London.
Imbula has 2 goals and 1 assist to his name in 34 appearances for Marseille. The young Frenchman is starting to accumulate whispers about his game, more specifically on how promising he is. However, with contract extensions being given to Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky in the coming days, is it worth the gamble of signing Imbula before he is well established as a reliable midfielder in Europe?
Proclaimed by Arsene Wenger as “no longer a selling club,” the club has established the ability to buy established players instead of growing them after paying off all dividends with the Emirates Stadium. While former years has seen Arsene Wenger known to sign “young, promising players”, the past two summer transfer windows have come with the blockbuster signings of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. Wenger needs to keep up this current trend and he needs to sign an established, elite defensive midfielder. Signing Imbula would not make sense right now, because Wenger would most likely sign him and loan him off to develop at a Division 2 club – much like Francis Coquelin’s recent tenure at Charlton.
Giannelli Imbulu could very well be the future of Arsenal but Gooners would rather see Le Professeur sign an elite midfielder in order to compete for the league title next year. Currently projected to finish 2nd place in the league and being heavily favored to win the 2015 FA Cup, Wenger needs to focus on ending the decade-long drought in the Premier League.