It’s a common aspiration of many children across the world to become a professional footballer. Arsenal have an illustrious history, rich with trophies and success. Despite going nearly nine seasons without such glory, they are still a hugely attractive club due to the stars that they have in their ranks and the fact that they are always in the Champions League.
It’s not unheard of that a player expresses his desire to play for the Gunners or is open to a move to the North London club. That is the case for Younes Belhanda, former team mate of Olivier Giroud when they were both at Montpellier.
FourFourTwo have centred their story around a quote made by Belhanda on a potential move to Arsenal. The Dynamo Kyiv star is apparently ‘dreaming’ of a move to England with his favourite club being ‘Arsenal, of course’.
However, I fail to see why Arsenal would need the Moroccan in their ranks.
My first concern is that he wouldn’t start nearly as much as he would at another Premier League side. With Mesut Ozil set to dominate the attacking midfield role for a number of seasons at the Gunners, Belhanda simply won’t be able to dislodge the German star from his prominent role.
Even if he does, he then has to compete with Santi Cazorla and Tomas Rosicky. Even Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been known to play in the ‘number 10’ role. Competition would be too much for him.
My final point is that, while he is a talented player, I’m not sure he’s worth the price tag that he’s been issued with. Transfermarkt place it at just under £10 million. He’s good but I don’t think he’s good enough to warrant a price in excess of £10 million.
He’s good, but he’s not quite Carling.