Arsenal have long been linked with a move for Sporting CP defensive midfielder William Carvalho. The Portugal international has been subject of rumoured interest from numerous Premier League clubs in the British and Portuguese press, and after missing out on Morgan Schneiderlin, who recently joined Manchester United, Arsenal should now put all their efforts into signing William Carvalho.
Carvalho is considered as one of the best young talents in football and is continuing to impress at Sporting. With Francis Coquelin and Mathieu Flamini as Arsenal defensive midfield options, it is easy to see why they are targeting the Sporting man.
However, with him now being confirmed as injured and likely to miss up to 12 weeks of football, it seems as though Arsenal will be better off waiting until the January transfer window to make their move. Before completing his move to Manchester United, Morgan Schneiderlin had been strongly linked with a move to the Emirates as a potential first choice for Arsene Wenger in the Arsenal midfield, ahead of Coquelin and Flamini.
William Carvalho would be the perfect choice of player for Arsene Wenger to target; a player who is able to protect the defence extremely well. He has fantastic awareness in the midfield and is able to break up play astutely before it becomes a dangerous situation for his defence to deal with.
The Portugal international has been a joy to watch for Sporting fans, with the last two seasons seeing his development as a midfielder continue and go from strength to strength. On numerous occasions, he has seen himself be linked with Manchester United, who as we know, have now addressed their defensive-midfield issue.
Having improved his game on so many different levels in the last few seasons, and with him still being 23-years-old, he still has many years of development and improvement to go through, but has already established himself as one of the most sought after young, defensive midfielders in Europe, and it seems that Arsenal have grown extremely keen on adding the young Portuguese international to their squad.
If he were to join Arsenal, despite him having zero experience in Premier League football, he would benefit greatly from being Wenger’s main defensive midfield option. That’s not saying Coquelin doesn’t remain fully capable of seeing out those duties during each game, but Carvalho is comfortably the better of the two and with both being better than Flamini, there may be no space for the Frenchman in Arsene Wenger’s squad.
Now, not only is William’s defensive game very strong, but he is also very capable of creating attacks for his fellow teammates. He has very good vision and his range of passing is extremely varied. He play balls that can release a wide player or a more advanced player to allow them to break forward and create goal scoring opportunities.
A very young and talented footballer is exactly what William Carvalho is, and it’s easy to see why such high profile clubs like Arsenal are attempting to sign him as he would be a superb acquisition and someone who would improve them greatly. Although he is injured and a summer move is almost certainly off the table, Arsene Wenger and the club should put a great amount of effort into taking him to the Emirates in the January transfer window, but will the high fee of at least £35m be too much for the club? It’s certainly something they wouldn’t regret.
