Jamie Vardy can be Arsenal's Luis Suarez - signing Riyad Mahrez as well would be major title coup for Wenger

James Olley6 June 2016

Arsenal could be two-thirds of the way towards making themselves Premier League title favourites next season.

Jamie Vardy may only have one season operating at the very highest level under his belt but his level was such that it has convinced as good a judge of a player as Arsene Wenger to part with £20million in an effort to sign a 29-year-old.

That is no mean feat. Turning 30 used to be a death knell for any player at Emirates Stadium – here is one being offered what could amount to a four-year deal.

Vardy may not possess the pedigree of a Luis Suarez but Wenger has identified similar qualities in the Leicester City striker: willingness to run all day long, work tirelessly for the team and a clinical finisher in front of goal.

Wenger has often bemoaned his team’s ability to defend from the front effectively and carved out a well-worn rhetoric during the end of the season – once it became clear that the title would slip away once again – that a lack of efficiency in the final third cost his side dearly.

Their interest in Riyad Mahrez clearly originates from the same place and although any deal would be independent of one agreed for Vardy, to sign both would be a major coup pushing Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain closer to the exit door.

Criticism of Arsenal’s attacking prowess clearly has merit but it cannot be viewed in isolation.

Arsenal's most expensive transfers

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Arsenal undermined their efforts at home and abroad through the concession of sloppy and avoidable goals. They repeatedly seemed to suffer from a collective lack of composure, prompting that familiar refrain that this is a team which lacks leaders.

Granit Xhaka’s arrival from Borussia Monchengladbach should ease such concerns but they still need a commanding centre-back to solidify a defence which too often creaks alarmingly under minimal pressure.

They have proved too susceptible to the counter-attack in recent times – often, this is a balance issue which Xhaka’s purchase should address directly – but the individual mistakes and positioning errors need to be rectified on the field by a centre-back willing to shout at and organise those around him.

Arsenal scouted Kostas Manolas prior to his move from Olympiacos to Roma and they retain an interest, although the price would exceed the £11.5m the Italians paid two years ago.

If he could be prised away from Atletico Madrid, Diego Godin would be an ideal candidate. He’s 29 too – and also wouldn’t be cheap - but then that doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

Laurent Koscielny is Arsenal’s best centre-back these days. Per Mertesacker is a key figure in the dressing room and around the club’s London Colney training base but he has his detractors and time is against him given a lack of pace and the prospect of his 32nd birthday in September.

Calum Chambers is still young but has not trained on as Arsenal would have hoped while Gabriel has proven too error-prone when called upon. The quartet needs an upgrade. If Wenger can deliver that, optimism among Arsenal supporters will be high.

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