I don’t like that’ – Paul Merson begs Arsenal not to replace Kai Havertz with £32m star
Arsenal hero Paul Merson has urge Mikel Arteta to avoid experimenting with Mikel Merino as a false nine in the wake of Kai Havertz’s season-ending injury.
The Gunners’ already-deplete frontline was dealt เล่นเกมคาสิโน UFABET ทันสมัย ฝากถอนง่าย another significant blow on Tuesday as it was reveale that Havertz had suffere a torn hamstring while being put through his paces at the club’s warm-weather training camp in Dubai.
It leaves Arteta’s attacking options desperately thin on the ground, with Gabriel Jesus rule out for the remainder of the campaign last month and Bukayo Saka still yet to return from surgery on his hamstring.
Havertz’s setback also raises further questions about Arsenal’s failure to bring in a forward while they had the chance during the January transfer window – which Arteta admitted had left him ‘disappointe’.
The German’s absence could open up an opportunity for Raheem Sterling, who has so far struggled to live up to expectations following his loan move from Chelsea last summer.
Meanwhile, claim that Arteta is considering fielding Merino as a false nine, despite the fact the Spaniard never before taken up the position in his career.
Asked whether replacing Havertz with Merino could work for Arsenal, Merson told ‘Not in my book it won’t, not in my book. I don’t like that.
‘I’d probably play Sterling up there. I’d give Sterling a couple of games up there and I say that because of his movement.
‘He can move, Sterling, and he can spread the team, take them that way. As soon as the game starts becoming compact and tight, it plays into other people’s hands.
‘When Arsenal can open the game up and Sterling go that way and spread it and then [Martin] Odegaard can get time on the ball, Nwaneri and Trossard, then I think Arsenal will be alright.
‘But if you start playing a false nine and he starts drifting back… he’s not someone who finds a pass, he’s not a Havertz, he’s not going to score goals.
‘For me, it’s staring you straight in the eye. Put those three [Leandro Trossard, Ethan Nwaneri, Raheem Sterling] up front and probably just tell them to play wherever they want.
‘Manchester City are the only team that have ever playe a false nine and that was Manchester City. Everybody’s trying to copy everybody, everybody always seems to be a year behind what Pep Guardiola does, or even more.’
Merson believes Havertz’s devastating injury gives Nwaneri an ‘unbelievable chance’ to step up and make himself a ‘superstar’ in the business end of the season.
‘I just can’t believe what’s happened, I really can’t,’ the former Arsenal and England midfielder added.
‘Only time will tell now [how costly not signing a striker in January will be]. If they go and lose the league by one or two or three points then you can sit there and go, “If Arsenal had bought a striker…”, but only time will tell.
‘If Liverpool had gone and won [against Everton], I don’t care who is playing up front for Arsenal, nine points would have been a long, long, long way for me, unassailable. But now it’s seven. It makes a difference, those two points, and I just think only time will tell.