Why Rodrigo De Paul could be the perfect signing for Arsenal:
[A Thread]

Likes and RT’s appreciated
#AFC

With Arsenal in the market for a creative midfielder, and De Paul reportedly looking for a way out of struggling Udinese, I’ve done a thread going over his strengths as a player and how he would fit in with Arteta’s future plans.

Specifically, this thread will look over:

• The direction of Arsenal
• De Paul’s background
• Playstyle overview
• Partnership with Smith Rowe
• What his personality would bring
• Summary

1. The direction of Arsenal

This section will look over how Arteta is looking to build Arsenal, in terms of both system and style of play. From there we can evaluate De Paul on the qualities that Arsenal will need from their CM’s.

Speaking on his intended style, Arteta stated:

“We want to move to a 4-3-3 but for that you need a lot of specificity in every position, but now in 5/6 positions, we don’t have it”

From his time at City, it’s fair to assume he’ll want to move towards a variant of the 433 that brought them so much success between 2017-19.

In the system, the CM’s played the role of ‘free 8’s’, which can be described as CM’s who attack the halfspaces, link play and aid ball progression before finding the final pass to create goals.

If you’re unfamiliar with the role, the image below explains it in more detail.

However, as Arteta stated Arsenal’s current squad lack the ‘specificity’ for this.

The only real creative midfielder is Emile Smith Rowe, but he is the only one. So, to transition towards the 433, Arsenal need to make another midfield signing, and this is where De Paul comes in.

2. De Paul’s background

De Paul started his career at Argentinian side Racing Club, joining their youth academy ‘Club de Avellaneda’, which has produced talents such as Lautaro Martinez.

However, after only two years of senior experience, he was signed by Valencia in 2014.

He had what could be described as a turbulent time at Valencia.

In his debut he was sent off after just 63 seconds, but impressed throughout the rest of the campaign. However, while playing alongside the likes of Parejo and Gomes he wasn’t getting the minutes in CM he wanted.

After a couple more years in Spain, he then moved to Udinese.

From here, his career has been on an upwards trajectory, landing him numerous individual awards, but with Udinese failing to strengthen the side around him, he’s now looking to join a club that matches his ambitions.

3. Playstyle Overview

De Paul is a gifted player, who pretty much carries the entire creative burden of Udinese, leading them in terms of shot-creating actions, key passes, passes into the penalty box and xA (expected assists).

When his side are building, he’s very progressive. He breaks the lines frequently, and has that Bruno Fernandes mentality where he focuses more on effective passes as opposed to pass accuracy, always looking to play forwards and attack, really aiding Udinese’s ball progression.

This attack focus mentality can be seen a lot in his pass maps.

You can see how often he looks to get the ball into the box, playing either a well weighted through ball or with a Kevin De Bruyne-esque cross from the halfspace.

He has outstanding vision, and the technique to back it up, often pulling off inch perfect incisive passes to breakdown the opposition defence. His awareness of the runs his teammates make aid this as well, with his linkup looking almost telepathic at points.

With the ball at his feet, he’s an excellent passer, but also quite an underrated dribbler.

He carries the ball well, particularly when riding challenges and is often used as the carrier for his team’s offensive transitions where he looks to drive forwards as seen below.

We also have to talk about his goalscoring ability.

Whilst he does score quite a few from range, one of the less spoken aspects of his game is his movement into the box. De Paul has a real habit of finding the space in the box, something we’ve seen the Arsenal midfield lack.

If you look at the image below, Arsenal only manage to get 2/3 bodies in the box, with the midfielders hesitant to join.

Perhaps they do so to stop a counter occurring but having someone like De Paul to attack from deep in these situations would really benefit Arsenal.

However, his attacking output doesn’t negate any defensive work.

If you look at the graph below comparing tackles won vs shot-creating actions, notice, although he excels much more in creating, his defensive numbers are still good, and he can bring that intensity Arsenal need.

As a player, he looks the perfect match for the free 8 role, and a good way to see his suitability would be to compare his stats with that of De Bruyne in the 17/18 season.

Below I’ve taken key attributes that were associated with De Bruyne and mapped them vs De Paul’s 20/21.

5. A partnership with Smith Rowe

I also think he could be the perfect midfield partner for Smith Rowe.

Partly by adding maturity, but more so because they stylistically work together. Smith Rowe is a great player, he finds space well, links play and keeps things moving.

What he doesn’t do however is aid ball progression from deep, and he isn’t a direct chance creator. That isn’t a slight on his ability, he’s a fantastic linkman and I love watching him play, the point is that him and De Paul would perfectly complement each other’s style.

What Smith Rowe lacks in his game, De Paul provides, and vice-versa.

This is exactly what you need from a midfield pairing, the balance of a linkman (Smith Rowe) and a direct playmaker (De Paul). Again, going back to City this is why Silva and De Bruyne worked so well together.

5. What his personality would bring

De Paul has an elite hardworking mentality.

He's the club captain of Udinese, and it really shows on the pitch. He’s been quoted saying he'd 'go to war' on the field, and is often seen shouting at his teammates to work harder and do better.

De Paul is someone you could describe as a ‘floor raiser’.

He will always get the best out of his teammates, constantly putting demands on them to be better, both off and on the field and when you look at some of Arsenal’s performances, they’ve needed someone like that.

6. Summary

I do really believe De Paul could be the perfect signing for Arsenal. Not only does his ability improve them and help them transition towards Arteta’s vision but the mentality he brings could take Arsenal to the next level and available for just £25m, he’s a bargain.

@AFCMax9 @afcevan @SemperFiArsenal @EduardoHagn @WorldwideAFC @afcjxmes @PatrickTimmons1 @ltarsenal @afcstuff @WorldwideAFC If any of you lot fancy having a read or leaving any feedback/support that’d be class lads .