Why Arsenal should look to sign Eric Bailly in the January window
According to Mirror, Eric Bailly could quit Manchester United in January after being frozen out of the first team by Jose Mourinho. The Ivorian international is unsettled at the club and the situation has alerted Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, as both north London clubs are looking to bolster their defence in January (h/t Mirror).
A product of RCD Espanyol’s youth system, Bailly began his senior career at his boyhood club in 2013 and moved to Villareal in 2015. The 24-year-old, who moved to Old Trafford for a price of £30million in 2016, was Mourinho’s first signing after taking charge.
The Ivorian was used on a regular basis by Mourinho in the 2016/17 season, as the centre-back made a total of 38 appearances across all competitions, including 25 in the Premier League. However, he fell drastically out of favour last season, making merely 13 appearances in the top-flight.
Clearly, Bailly hasn’t been able to fulfil his potential at Old Trafford. It could be argued that the manager hasn’t shown enough confidence in him and hasn’t provided him with adequate game time to flourish. However, Bailly hasn’t made a strong case for himself.
The 24-year-old started United’s first two games this season but he was at the receiving end of a lot of criticism following his terrible performance against Brighton & Hove Albion, which eventually cost United the game. As a result, Bailly continues to find himself along the sidelines. He has been relegated to bench duty and was only used as a late substitute in the subsequent games against Burnley and Watford.
Victor Lindelof and Chris Smalling did not have too much to do in the fixture against Burnley but they performed reasonably well in the 2-1 victory over Watford at Vicarage Road. With Phil Jones as the other centre-back in the squad, Bailly might find regular minutes hard to come by at Old Trafford.
Arsenal, on the other hand, had a poor start to the season with losses against Manchester City and Chelsea but the Gunners have resurrected their campaign with back-to-back wins over Cardiff City and Newcastle United. Although Arsenal arguably produced their best performance of the season so far in the game against Newcastle, they did not look convincing at the back.
While Sokratis has established himself as one of the top defenders at the Emirates, his partner Shkodran Mustafi has been anything but solid. Although the German has started all of Arsenal’s games so far, he has looked shaky at the back, often playing out of position and allowing the opposition to break into the penalty area way too easily.
He has struggled with his positioning as well and has visibly lacked the confidence to play in the heart of the defence. At times, he seems to have little communication with his defensive counterparts. Furthermore, he has made some simple clearances look really difficult. To sum it up, Mustafi has been the weakest link in Arsenal’s defence and most of the workload has been shouldered by Sokratis.
To put things into perspective, Arsenal should bolster their options at the back by signing Bailly in January. The Gunners need some cover at the back and Bailly could be the perfect option for Emery. Given that Laurent Koscielny could be on the treatment table for a majority of the season, Arsenal should not hesitate to splash the cash to acquire Bailly.
