what is this guy like, where in midfield does he play?
Right in the centre of Arsenal fans heads.
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Bring us Aouar 
Aouar and Ceballos are both CMāsā¦ they would directly compete with each other in a 5-2-3 and be a carbon copy of each other in a 4-3-3ā¦ thereās no midfield runners to support the front three in that system. Neither of them are particularly creative advanced midfielders either.
Arteta would have to coach them to push forward more if we do this. They can provide the front three with possession but a 3 with those two in there lacks dynamism. Good ball retention and possession but very distanced from the front line.
This is a bit pointless IMO unless weāre already preparing for Ceballos departure next summer.
Ceballos is an undisputed starter in this midfield and right now Xhaka has to play in that 3-4-3 for the holding role in the middle of that system.
This would be a depth signing and I just donāt see the benefit with limited funds. It is nowhere near as game changing for us as Partey coming in to start over Xhaka would be.
Bringing in Partey and then Ozil & Guendouzi back into the fold is a better use of our resources for me.
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How is signing a player to a (presumably) huge contract who doesnāt add any creativity solve our problem? Bringing back two guys from the doghouse wonāt do it since Ozil is leaving on a free and Guendouzi isnāt all that creative either. Heās also just a runner.
Iām not a fan of Xhaka either but it would make more sense to not bring in a guy for a lot of money who is about the same age to play the same position. Iād rather we sign Aouar, ride out this year with Xhaka and Dani in midfield and then reassess next summer. In 2021 maybe we can dump Xhaka in order to sign Dani permanently and move him back a little bit.
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Thatās too steep a price, especially given the current climate. Have no idea about this guy but at that price, he better be prime David Silva.
Surely Lyon would be tempted with an offer of around 50m. Weāve lost some leverage with Jeff and Depay leaving. Those transfers will alleviate the pressure of their financial situation. They may run this down to the wire to get the maximum fee from us.
Thatās the thing about this dude, at the prices quoted he needs to be a legit star in the league. Canāt afford to miss on a signing like this.
Someone like Buendia would be better value and has comparable upside.
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In this 3-4-3 system I would like to see Ceballos in that holding role. I think he has the ability (willingness to get physical, tenacity etc) to play that role and as a playmaker can really help in the build up. Aouar seems like a player who is more advanced than him to me.
Successful dribbles per 90 (success rate)
Houssem Aouar ā 3.0 (58.8%)
Joe Willock ā 2.2 (64.7%)
Dani Ceballos ā 1.4 (73.7%)
Matteo Guendouzi ā 1.2 (54.5%)
Lucas Torreira ā 1.0 (71.4%)
Granit Xhaka ā 0.9 (82.8%)
Think this shows he has more ādynamismā than Ceballos and along with the other stats on that page proves what I think most of us know, that Aouar is a more attacking player than Ceballos.
I think to say this would be a depth signing is laughable, Ceballos, Xhaka, Aouar then who else?
Torreira and Guendouzi weāre trying to sell, and Willock is far from a first team player.
So heād be a starter in a midfield 3, and in my opinion a starter in a midfield 2, but worst case he starts most games this season as he develops.
Partey is not going to get any better, whereas Aouar could become top class. Then you talk about bringing Ozil back, but heāll be gone by next season anyway so thatās hardly forward planning. Weād just have to make an Aouar type signing next season, assuming someone of his style and quality was available.
Sounds like Aouar and Ceballos bring different aspects to midfield. Ceballos someone who will advance the ball by passing and Aouar the more dynamic option.
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I Agree.
Although weāve got Willian, there are no other real dynamic play makers in the team.
If Arteta really wants Aouar, then he has to sell Xhaka and Guendouzi to pay for it, then we would have a very good CM partnership of Cellabos and Aouar, with money to buy either a winger or creative midfielder.
To get another CM when we already have several, even if theyāre not top quality, seems negligent.
We have several players that can play that position and we are lacking a top quality attacking midfielder.
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The guy who wrote this seems so angry at Aouar for some reason that one could argue that heās going for MotherF***** instead of Midfielder with his MFer abbreviation 
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Ha ha I read it that way.
Lyon want 60m, which they aināt gonna get unless the likes of PSG or City suffer some injuries on key players early on. Lyon needs the money though and I can see this one dragging on to a deadline day signing, where Lyon would have to accept 40m for him. Question is if we can afford that.
Having Aouar, Ceballos, Xhaka and Guen gives us a lot of options that we havenāt had in years. Add Ćzil, ESR and Willock to the mix and we should be covered regarding injuries and fatigue. We may lack the overall central creativity, because Aouar and Ceballos canāt play all games, but we have other options. (Iām not counting on Ćzil at all).
We have creativity on the wings as well. Pepe has hopefully settled and can keep up his good form. Tierney has the speed to be a real threat and we have Willian now too.
On paper it looks rather good and Iām very excited to see how far this team can take us. We have however been let down before 
but I hope Arteta is a more dynamic manager then Wenger and Emery in regards to tactics. If heās learned anything from Pep I hope thatās one thing.
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We should propose PSG to have a swap deal between Guen and Aouar
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@SDGooner @Gunnerpr @HotCrossGuns @Ocke
Youāve all convinced me Aouar isnāt a Ceballos like for like. Feeling a lot more excited about the rumour.
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Arteta when asked about Aouar in todayās conference: āI donāt want to talk about players at other clubs that are not our players.ā
Wenger energy
This transfer link has legs and Iām hopeful we could get something sorted by deadline dayā¦
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You know what I like about Arteta is, that to me he seems to have a dark side, where you can tell underneath the smiles he is utterly ruthless. Kind of like that saying āThe devil is the perfect gentlemenā love how Arteta and Edu have been trying to actively sway players, turn heads, disrupt other teams to get the players in etcā¦ it gives me confidence that these guys are willing to do whatever it takes to get things done and to win. Which personally I love.
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