Maddison Musings
Arsenal’s summer is James Maddison or bust. It’s Madders for £60 million, no, scratch that, £70 million. Can Arsenal raise that kind of cash? Probably not, but it doesn’t hurt to dream, right?
Maddison is a dream signing worth pursuing for Mikel Arteta and Edu, even if the irony is the club could have signed him for relative peanuts three years ago. Arsene Wenger, who never saw a №10 he didn’t like, was casting an eye over Maddison during his Norwich City days. We didn’t know it then, but the curtain would fall on Wenger’s reign in a matter of days. And it’s all been downhill ever since, but that’s another story for another day…
At the time of those original links, I wrote how Arsenal didn’t need another creative midfielder. I was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The intervening years have shown me and all of us gluttons for punishment who have suffered through watching Arsenal in the post-Wenger era, one important lesson. Namely, you can never have enough talented creatives.
A photo from the excellent Twitter account, Throwback Arsenal, drew my eye recently and helps prove the point.
Wenger’s teams could turn on the style at will because no playmaker was asked to thrive in isolation. The halcyon days of the 2013/14 campaign, when Arsenal had more naturals 10s than days in the week, now feel bittersweet in retrospect.
Trying to cobble together teams with one source of chances has led to lethargic, pedestrian football since. There’s been a distinct lack of imagination and artistry on the watch of both Arteta and predecessor Unai Emery. Part of the problem stemmed from how Emery culled the creative department. He biked two members of this photo, Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla, both of whom could add that certain magic to any forward move.
Emery also sold Alex Iwobi to Everton, loaned Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Roma and let Aaron Ramsey leave for free. Whatever you think of those guys, that’s a hell of a lot of playmakers allowed to find pastures new. The mass exodus left Arteta in a bind trying to play champagne football with a sham team. Arteta himself completed the purge when he won (sort of) Arsenal’s war of wills with Mesut Ozil, the archetypal Wenger signing.
The opening half of last season, Arteta’s first full campaign at the helm, showed the folly of relying on a midfield long on graft but short of inspiration. Arsenal didn’t click into gear until Arteta finally hauled Emile Smith Rowe out of the youth setup. Smith Rowe’s a natural 10 whose quick feet and incisive passing dovetailed brilliantly with the pace and smarts of fellow academy grad’ Bukayo Saka.
Sometimes there can be too many cooks in the kitchen, but Arteta and Edu blushing over Maddison need not mean a rainy day for Smith Rowe. It made sense for the club to give ESR a new contract and the sacred №10 shirt. He’s a talent on the rise whose development can’t be stunted by what Wenger would call “stacking talent on top of talent.” Yet, I don’t expect Arteta to back away from Maddison for fear of “killing” Smith Rowe any time soon.
Having two creative midfielders in the starting XI is good, but three’s better. Arteta knows it’s as much about quantity and quality. The Process King is reared on a culture of putting creativity first on the pitch. He saw Wenger make it Arsenal’s priority then watched Pep Guardiola stockpile maestros for Manchester City.
Smith Rowe and Saka are key to beautiful football returning to the carpet, but they’re both still learning. Maddison is the proven commodity whose creative creds are firmly established.
That’s what’s called the icing on the cake. Maddison is the star turn who can make everybody around him better. It’s worth coughing up the cash to sign a catalyst for a more entertaining, enterprising team. There’s no use griping about the fee. A reasonable sum barely exists in a market where Jack Grealish is a £100 million player. City’s move for Villa’s golden boy should sharpen the focus of every other “big club,” and Arsenal are still one of those, even if it’s in name only at this point.
The big clubs have to act if City are going to spend £250 million on Grealish and Harry Kane, two players who will improve an already strong side, in one summer. Standing still is no longer an option. Especially for a manager and technical director who have presided over two-straight eighth-place finishes.
Steady spending based on shrewd, selective scouting has an old-world charm. Good husbandry may even help Arsenal become steadily competitive again, but fourth place would be the ceiling. Splash signings are necessary if the club is ever going to reach and push beyond that barrier again. Provided they are the right “splash” signings.
Maddison fits into the right bracket, even if there’s a slight worry about Thomas Partey Syndrome. You know the one where a player is willing to leave a club on the rise and playing in Europe for one that’s neither of those things. There wouldn’t be a chance of signing Maddison if there wasn’t a problem, either with the player or life at Leicester City. Whether it’s an attitude issue or he simply can’t get over Brendan Rodgers’ self-portrait, is immaterial.
Arsenal have struck gold taking chances on damaged goods in the past. Marc Overmars’ knees were wet plasticine, but Wenger rolled the dice anyway and won big in 1997. Dennis Bergkamp had stopped scoring in Italy. Carlo Ancelotti didn’t want Mesut Ozil, while Lionel Messi didn’t like Alexis Sanchez.
One club’s garbage is another’s treasure. Or something like that.
Originally published at http://arsenalnotes49.wordpress.com on August 5, 2021.
