Arsenal target Franck Yannick Kessié is an Ivorian international who is currently playing his trade for AC Milan. The 23-year-old is a defensive midfielder who is known for his physicality. Arsenal do require a defensive midfielder, but doubts over his quality are prevalent.
Talking about his attributes as a DM he has made an average of 1.4 tackles per game in this season for Milan. To give you a perspective, Lucas Torreira has made 1.3 tackles per game this season and 1.8 tackles in last ten matches while Wilfried Ndidi has made 4.3 tackles per game.
As reflected by his numbers, he isn’t great when it comes to tackling, something Arsenal are primarily looking for in a MF to compensate for their otherwise attacking setup. Though he is a great dribbler and is a big threat on the counter-attack.
His offensive quality is highlighted by the fact that he has made 1.1 key passes per match this season. To give you a perspective, Wilfried Ndidi and made 0.6 key passes per match while Lucas Torreira has made 0.5 key passes per match. He surely has impressive numbers for a DM.
But being bluntly frank, he is not what Arsenal requires. We want a DM who is a good tackler first, someone with numbers similar to Ndidi. Kesse is more in the Granit Xhaka mould though the Swiss is far superior with his passing distributions.
- Market Value: €25 million
- Expected Fee: €25 million
- Chances to join: Not much really
- Expected to join: If he does, then surely in summer, but it’s a big “If”.
Mikel Arteta has categorically denied any interest in the player while many other outlets have also reported the same. Hence not expecting him to arrive at the Emirates. Instead, Arsenal could and should make Wilfried Ndidi their DM signing in the summer.
