As Arsenal continue to be heavily linked with a move for Ajax forward Brian Brobbey, TT looks at exactly why the Gunners want to bring the Netherlands international on board.
Mikel Arteta is keen to increase his firepower at The Emirates for the new season but has already moved out a move for Brentford’s Ivan Toney, while Napoli star Victor Osimhen and Sporting CP goal machine Viktor Gyokeres are deemed too expensive.
Arsenal were also keen on landing the highly-rated Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig, only for him to pen a new contract with the German outfit.
That has meant the focus has switched to other targets, with £68million-rated Brobbey at the forefront of Arsenal’s thinking at this stage.
To that end, TT takes a look at Brobbey’s career so far, his strengths and weaknesses and who else is interested in claiming his signature.
Brobbey’s career so far
Brobbey made his Ajax debut in the Eredivisie back in October 2020, coming on as a substitute and scoring in a 5–2 victory over Fortuna Sittard. His European debut then came two months later against Atalanta in the Champions League group stage – a performance which was heavily praised by then Ajax boss Erik ten Hag.
However, in early 2021 it was announced by Ajax director of football Marc Overmars that the attacker would leave the club at the expiry of his contract at the end of the season.
Having joined RB Leipzig he then made the switch back to Ajax in the winter window in 2022 on loan before completing a permanent €16.35million switch in the summer.
And it’s fair to say that he has not looked back since, having scored 36 goals in 87 games for the Dutch giants in total.
In October 2023, he received his first official call-up to the Netherlands senior national team for two UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers against France and Greece.
He was named in the Netherlands squad for Euro 2024 but only featured for one minute of the competition.
What type of player is Brobbey?
The Dutch attacker has been described as someone having ‘a low centre of gravity who is a potent physical threat in the penalty area’. The 22-year-old is also strong and quick and can be difficult to get off the ball due to his physicality.
The Athletic states that his physical dominance over Eredivisie defenders can come at a cost when ‘he knows how much stronger he is than the defenders he faces every week, meaning he has a tendency to cheat himself in more frantic moments, relying on that strength to bail him out of situations he wasn’t adequately focused on’.
Brobbey can, however, be a useful focal point of the attack as he links up play well and uses his fairly small 5ft 10in frame to good effect when he holds the ball up. He likes to do the majority of his work inside the area though and is more of a threat.
In terms of weaknesses, the Ajax man can be somewhat of a streaky scorer and his awareness when it comes to offside is not always on point.
Brobbey can also be prone to picking up niggly muscular injuries. Indeed, those injury issues have led several managers to discount him as a consistent starter.
Where will Brobbey eventually end up?
Having previously been linked with Manchester United, Brobbey has readily admitted that Real Madrid are a ‘beautiful’ club, while also namechecking the Red Devils and Arsenal.
Earlier this season, Brobbey confirmed he had been the subject of an approach from United boss Ten Hag over a possible switch to Old Trafford.
“Erik ten Hag called me and said that at United, my agent would get millions of euros and I could earn a multiple of my Ajax salary. But our decision was clear: we wanted to go to Ajax,” Brobbey told De Telegraaf.
“Manchester United wanted to have me, but I insisted on returning to Ajax. To make that possible, my agent Jose Fortes Rodriguez even waived a hefty percentage of the sell-on clause.”
However, with United’s focus switching to Brobbey’s international teammate Joshua Zirkzee, it appears that Arsenal have a fairly clear run to his signature.
The Gunners are keeping tabs on several centre-forwards who can provide competition for Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, with Brobbey an option they are firmly considering.
The 22-year-old, who has netted 134 goals in 241 matches in his career so far, is highly likely to replace Eddie Nketiah at the Emirates.
Arsenal have put Nketiah on the market due to the fact that Brobbey will push him further down the pecking order.
A host of Premier League sides have been linked with Nketiah, including Wolverhampton Wanderers, Crystal Palace and Fulham.
But the 25-year-old could instead go abroad in search of regular game time. On Wednesday it emerged that Marseille are interested in Nketiah amid uncertainty over their signing of Mason Greenwood from Man Utd.
As Nketiah is a graduate of the Arsenal academy, the fee gained from his sale would go down as pure profit on the club’s books.
Edu has been forced to identify Brobbey as a possible replacement for Nketiah after being handed several setbacks in his striker pursuit.
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