It could not be an even bigger week for Arsenal.
On Sunday, Mikel Arteta’s aspect returned to motion after their worldwide break with a profitable North London derby towards Tottenham.
The highest two groups on this season’s Champions League then meet on Wednesday, with Bayern Munich and Arsenal each battling for a 100% file within the competitors, earlier than the Gunners face off in a modest London derby towards Chelsea subsequent Sunday.
If the Premier League leaders are nonetheless sitting on the high of the desk after 10 days, Arteta will want a key determine to carry out at his finest, however is sporting director Andrea Berta already planning to signal a ‘monster’ hybrid of two of Arsenal’s most vital gamers?
Arsenal goal midfield monster
Arguably two of Arsenal’s most vital signings in current seasons have been Declan Rice and Mikel Merino.
Whereas the previous has undergone a change in midfield and could possibly be presently in the most effective place within the Premier League, the Spaniard has grow to be indispensable in a very surprising manner, excelling as an emergency stopgap striker since taking over the position from the bench towards Leicester in February, and appears poised to steer the road once more towards Spurs on Sunday.
Now, the Gunners and Andrea Berta are eyeing one other midfield star, with Arsenal one in every of a variety of Premier League golf equipment curious about signing Napoli’s Scott McTominay, in line with TEAMalk.
The Partenopei additionally added that the Gunners are contemplating a transfer for the star participant, who’s valued at €80m (about £70.5m), declaring the “astronomical” charges concerned in promoting the “lynchpin” of Antonio Conte’s aspect, whereas additionally declaring that the Scotland worldwide wish to return to the Premier League in some unspecified time in the future.
Solely 15 gamers in historical past have featured within the first group for each Arsenal and Manchester United in recent times – Robin van Persie, Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck and Henrikh Mkhitaryan – so may McTominay quickly be a part of this unique record?
What Scott McTominay brings to Arsenal
McTominay made headlines this week for the dramatic manner he scored a surprising overhead kick to assist Scotland qualify for his or her first World Cup in 28 years, breaking a impasse to beat Denmark 4-2 at Hampden. If you have not seen this objective but, it is effectively price your time.
Now, for those who thought McTominay was well-liked in Scotland, he holds a god-like standing at Napoli, being the driving drive behind final season’s Serie A title, Chiuciarelli’s fourth Scudetto and being named the league’s participant of the season, and the stats under spotlight why.
McTominay Serie A statistics 2024/25 | ||
|---|---|---|
statistics | McTominay | Serie A rank |
the objective | 12 | seventh place |
heading objective | 3 | 4th place |
shot | 76 | eleventh |
shot heading in the right direction | 33 | sixth place |
Non Pengor – xG | +4.6 | second |
Motion to set targets | 10 | twenty sixth |
profitable take-up | 39 | twelfth |
Gained a floor duel | 141 | eleventh |
gained an aerial battle | 67 | twenty fifth |
Variety of balls collected | 143 | 20 days |
contact within the field | 106 | 20 days |
common ranking | 7.27 | eighth place |
Statistics by FBref and SofaScore | ||
Because the desk exhibits, McTominay is an entire all-rounder, rating extremely in numerous metrics.
He scored 12 targets from simply 33 photographs heading in the right direction, which places him second solely to Capocannoniere winner Matteo Letegui when it comes to non-penalty targets, together with this objective towards Cagliari on the ultimate day that gained the Scudetto (a objective that was just lately relegated to the second-best bicycle kick in his present reel).
McTominay ranked within the high 20 not just for goal-scoring feats, but additionally for profitable take-ons, floor duels gained and ball recoveries, additional underscoring his all-action nature.
Manchester United supervisor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer known as him a “bodily monster” and Adam Joseph described him as “a real celebrity of European and world soccer”.
McTominay due to this fact seems to mix all the most effective properties of each Merino and Rice.
Like Merino, the Scot not solely makes use of his goal-scoring instincts, however he’s additionally wonderful within the air, as evidenced by the truth that he scored three headers and gained 67 aerial duels in Serie A final season.
In the meantime, like Rice, McTominay is usually a drive everywhere in the pitch, protecting a variety of floor and serving to his group regain possession once they do not have the ball, in addition to contributing to driving dribbles and goal-scoring motion within the last third.
As such, the World Cup-bound 28-year-old has developed into among the finest all-round midfield gamers on the planet and can undoubtedly be an distinctive addition to Arsenal.
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