After two seasons of challenging Manchester City at the top of the table, Mikel Arteta and his squad of talented players must take that next step before they begin to lose momentum.
The best thing that Edu Gaspar and the club at large can do to help them in that endeavour is to bring in some quality additions in the transfer window.
mikel-arteta-arsenal-premier-league
Luckily for fans, that may well happen, as the latest player touted for a move to the Emirates has been compared to Leandro Trossard and would be the perfect rival for Bukayo Saka on the right - oh, and he's already played for the club before.
Arsenal transfer news
According to a recent report from German publication Bild, Arsenal are interested in Borussia Dortmund's Dutch attacker, Donyell Malen.
donyell-malen-borussia-dortmund
The report claims that the 25-year-old dynamo is considering his future and eyeing a challenge away from Germany, and in an interview from earlier this year, he opened the door for a return to N5, where he spent several years as a youth player before moving to PSV in 2017.
The good news for the Gunners is that this potential signing wouldn't cost them an arm and a leg, as the report has revealed that Dortmund are prepared to sell him for around £34m.
It wouldn't be a bargain, but given his performances last season, the comparisons to Trossard and the potential that he could offer Saka a real challenge on the right, £34m doesn't seem too bad.
Malen's comparison to Trossard and Saka
Now, before assessing how Malen stacks up against Saka and how effective he could be as a challenger to the incredible Englishman, let's look at this comparison to Trossard.
Lendro-Trossard-Arsenal
It stems from FBref, which compares every player in Europe's top five leagues based on their position and then creates a list of the ten most comparable for each player and, in this case, they have identified the Belgian as the most similar attacking midfielder or winger to the Dortmund ace across those five competitions.
The easiest way to see this similarity is by looking at the underlying numbers where the pair rank quite closely, such as non-penalty expected goals and assists, actual non-penalty goals and assists, progressive carries and passes received, key passes, aerial duels won and shot-creating actions, all per 90.
Malen & Trossard
Stats per 90
Malen
Trossard
Non-Penalty Expected Goals + Assists
0.63
0.58
Non-Penalty Goals
0.66
0.66
Assists
0.05
0.05
Progressive Carries
3.69
3.61
Progressive Passes Received
8.23
8.47
Key Passes
1.11
1.31
Shot-Creating Actions
3.74
3.55
Aerial Duels Won
0.35
0.27
All Stats via FBref for the 23/24 PL Season
That said, while the comparisons to the former Brighton & Hove Albion ace are now far clearer, how would the "sizzling" Dutchman, as described by U23 scout Antonio Mango, get on as a rival to the Gunners' Hale End superstar on the right?
Well, the first thing to say is that while he would likely be talked about as a rival for the Englishman, in reality, he'd probably end up becoming a backup, which, given the Ealing-born superstar's tally of 20 goals and 14 assists in 47 games last season is not a slight at all.
However, even as a de facto backup for the 22-year-old ace, the former PSV winger would still get plenty of game time across all the competitions Arsenal are set to play in next season.
Moreover, considering he scored 15 goals and provided five assists in 38 games last season, he'd be an incredible weapon off the bench for Arteta.
Ultimately, Malen proved that he was more than good enough to play for a top team last season, and while he would almost certainly remain behind Saka in the pecking order at the Emirates, he'd still end up getting a fair amount of game time as the Gunners look to attack on all fronts next season.
Moreover, if he's the player who can finally allow the North Londoners' number seven to get some genuine rest during the season, then his importance to the team would stem from more than what he can do on the pitch. Therefore, Edu and Co should do what they can to bring him to the club this summer.
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