Julián Alvarez is back on the Arsenal radar

It's still a long shot but the door isn't closed on this one.

Are you ready for a big potential transfer saga that drags on all summer long? I think I might be if it is for Julián Alvarez.

There is a big update from the anonymous “in the know” reporter but increasingly trustworthy Hand of Arsenal account on the Alvarez situation today. Here is the summary of the big update: the player’s dream is Barcelona, Atletico’s stance is that they refuse to sell him there, he’d be open to Arsenal (or other moves) if Barcelona can’t be done.

The transfer isn’t fully in Arsenal’s control here but this report suggests that the club is doing the work to be in position, should things break there way and there is an opening.

There are a lot of moving parts here and rather than get too bogged down into the potential saga, let’s do something a bit more useful and take a look at the player and think about the potential fit at Arsenal.

Before we get too far into this, one of the very tough things is trying to fit Alvarez into a predefined position. He is an incredibly unique player that doesn’t really conform to any one position and can fit across the attacking line. Here is where he has played over the last three seasons.

Manchester City used him as the guy that filled any hole that they had in the team, playing him all of the front line. At Atleti they have made him more the centerpiece, playing more striker but with a twist compared to how Arsenal operate, pairing him with a partner and still granting him tons of freedom to float around the final third.

Jumping into the graphics for a quick stat scouting view on the player now.

The production is good, but he doesn’t jump off the stats sheet as an elite striker. If we add in the template for the attacking midfield his numbers pop a bit more.

The last season was also a bit of a “down” year for him. He dealt with injuries and seemed to not quite ever find the red hot form. Here is what his numbers look like for the season’s before this using both templates.

With the way that Arsenal and Mikel Arteta prize versatile complete players, adding Alvarez opens up a ton of potential options for the team.

There is a bit of an idea floating around that the next evolution of this Arsenal team is making a move away from a single striker back towards a more classic strike partnership. That would fit the skills and experience of Alvarez perfectly.

We don’t have the final update on the striker ratings from the ADAM score yet, but in the last update it should be no surprise that the rating system loved the fit for Alvarez as an option for Arsenal putting him at the top of the rankings.

It is not a secret that I haven’t been the biggest fan of Viktor Gyökeres and preferred other options last summer. He came in and was fine, meeting the expectations that I had set for him. One of the major drawbacks was that he often felt like a player that brought down the overall ceiling of the attack, and didn’t bring out the best in the players that were around him. Alvarez with his more 9.5 style and ability to be more than just a target in the box can potentially bring more of that to the team if he is leading the line.

This could be a me issue, but my preference has generally been more towards players that fit the mold of an Alvarez and I think that is what makes me so potentially excited about this link.

So, does he fit? About as well as any realistic target could.

The profile matches the system, the age matches the need, and the flexibility raises the ceiling of the whole attack rather than one position in it.

It felt like last summer Arsenal were so desperate for a striker that they didn’t have the luxury of trying to wait for the “perfect player” and had to pull the trigger and make a compromise choice. I don’t fault them for that and it ended up with Arsenal ending a long wait for the title. If the standoff in Madrid breaks the right way, this is the one you potentially tear up all of the other plans you’ve made and go for it.