After signing Alexis Sanchez and Mathew Debuchy, the Daily Mail has reported that Arsenal is making a fresh bid for the Sporting midfielder William Carvalho. In order to build on their FA Cup successes they are planning to bring in the Portuguese in strengthen their fragile midfield.
The highly rated 22 year old has a release clause of £35m. Before this Arsenal had a £25m turned down for the midfielder. Arsenal has been in need of a defensive midfielder for some years now. And William Carvalho would be an ideal signing for Arsene Wenger to build on his FA Cup success. He is the type of player that would remind Arsene of a certain Patrick Viera.
The 22 year old is 6 foot 1 and has a physical presence to back his height. Despite his big physique, he is very comfortable on the ball. And the fact he can also help out at centre back if needed is something Arsene Wenger must love about the Portuguese.
There have been reports from Portugal on how good the 22 year old has been. How he has stood out in the Sporting team who otherwise had a very poor season. He has ruled the centre of the pitch last season, as he was snuffing out any threat from the opposition by intercepting them with great timing and was also involved in setting Sporting’s attacking movements with good forward passing.
A word most used to describe him is ‘Vacuum Cleaner’, as he cleans the midfield and destroys anyone who comes in his way. But he does not tackle hard. He is a fantastic tackler. His anticipating skills are his main strength. And his ability to read the game and position himself accordingly, allows him to recover lots of lost ball and block many passes. He is also very solid while defending set pieces and a threat while attacking them.
The reason I feel he’ll succeed at Arsenal is because he will loves playing with creative players around him. He brings them into play with simple pass but he also can make long passes to wingers. He isn’t as technically gifted like Busquest, but he has the ability to play his team mate thorough.
He does have a weakness; he tends to falter against technically gifted number 10s. When he comes across such players his offensively quality gets weakened but the technical quality and positioning of the opposition midfielder. If he finds the balance between how to break the opposition play and then start his own attack, he will be a complete package as his defensive attributes are very impressive.
With a lot of top European club trying to get his signature, Arsenal should not let this opportunity slip and get their man. As he is being dubbed as the new Viera, he has that talent and the ability to live up to that name.
