This question is touted around quite a lot amongst football fans because it’s an interesting topic; obviously unrealistic, but an interesting and intriguing one nonetheless.
Arsenal have a very decent team at the moment and in terms of squad depth, there seems to be cover in every position, so we have no real need to sign anyone but the best talent in the world.
But, a club legend is a club legend and there’s many a player who would go straight into this current Arsenal side.
Before the start of this season, without doubt I’d have immediately identified either Patrick Vieira or Gilberto Silva as the one player Arsenal must sign, but the emergence, stability and potential of Francis Coquelin has proven to be a great surprise. He could of course do with a ‘partner in crime’, but with Santi Cazorla playing that deep-lying playmaker role so well, it’s not quite as necessary as the position I’ve identified.
A top, top quality goalkeeper is something that Arsenal absolutely need. Arsene Wenger has absolutely failed in his attempts to Jens Lehmann, who was a fantastic replacement for ‘safe hands’ David Seaman. With a number of goalkeepers available, it’s shocking that the boss hasn’t dipped into the transfer market for a goalkeeper, with the likes of Petr Cech a potential signing.
Wojciech Szczęsny is a good goalkeeper when he turns up, but everyone knows that off the pitch he has a lot to learn. Maturity is a key attribute for the man between the sticks and although he is still so young, he doesn’t fill me with confidence for the future. Ospina on the other hand is getting a lot of game time recently and despite one or two mistakes has proven himself to be a decent goalkeeper.
In goal is not the position I’d go for.
I can’t look past the need for a solid leader in defence and the one player I would resign for Arsenal would be Tony Adams. Everything that he brought to Arsenal in his time at the club was so vital, he was a world class footballer and despite off the field problems that affected his on field careers at times, he was amongst the clubs most dedicated servants.
Tony Adams’ style on the pitch was fantastic, a proper no nonsense defender who knew how to do his job properly. Laurent Koscielny is proving himself to be a great part of the Arsenal defence and partnered next to Tony Adams, I can only imagine the two would be unreal together.
What Adams would bring to this team is leadership, he would take the captains armband off Mikel Arteta/Per Mertesacker and really show everyone at the club what it means to lead Arsenal to glory.
During his time at the club, Adams made 669 appearances, 663 of which were starts over a 19-year stint as the club legend hailed ‘Mr. Arsenal’ won two ‘division one’ titles, two Premier League titles, three FA Cups, two league cups and the European Cup-Winner’s cup.
Adams showed fierce amounts of loyalty to the club during his 19 years, he is the only player to captain his side to top-flight championship wins in three different decades, having lifted the First Division trophy in 1989 and 1991, the Premier League trophy in 1998 and 2002.
A club legend, the greatest defender in Arsenal’s history and as Martin Tyler once said… “That sums it all up.”
