Because having just turned 22 he has world class pace and elite dribbling/ball control but only average final ball/decision making, which could become much better as he gets older. A certain Thierry Henry came to us at 22 and took a few years to iron out his final ball and decision making too.
He’s also being suffocated by Mourinho’s tactics and a lack of playing time. If he was playing every game under a Guardiola/Klopp and yes Wenger too, he’d be performing better.
Still despite playing in a much tougher league his goals/assists per minute is better than Bailey’s, while only being 20 months older. Bailey will cost 60m-80m as will Martial. That isn’t big money anymore either, substancial but not huge money
He is a world class CB, and we need a world class CB.
Wenger won’t be here to mess it up, so we should get him as our marquee signing for the new manager.
So you don’t think if he hits the market there wouldn’t be a clamouring for his services by legit top teams that would pay more and look like they could contend for the big titles too?
Boateng would be a great addition but aside from the fact we would be quite far down the list of possible destinations for him, he’s also 30 this year.
We should be looking for mid-twenties guys. Got enough younger ones (Chambers, Holding, Mavraponos) and ones in the ageing bracket (Koscielny, Monreal). Mustafi is the only one in the age range we are looking for and he might be sold this summer.