Arsenal should steer well clear of Jerome Boateng

Arsenal have been heavily linked to Jerome Boateng this month as they seek defensive reinforcement, but the German may bring more problems than he solves.

Calum Chambers was playing some excellent football for Arsenal over the last few weeks, even under Unai Emery, and it seemed as if the Gunners might finally have found a centre-back they could rely upon. However, the footballing gods decided that no such thing could be allowed to happen, and Chambers, unfortunately, ruptured his ACL against Chelsea – an injury which will sideline him for 6-9 months.

While losing Chambers, especially with the form he was in, is a huge blow, there is one thing that could save the Gunners from feeling the full impact of it – the January transfer window. While deals in the January window are notoriously more difficult to pull off, sometimes big splashes do happen, and Arsenal are no strangers to that. They signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Dortmund 2 January’s ago.

Now, according to BILD, the Gunners have turned their heads towards Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng, who has had a fabulous career throughout the decade for club and country.

While Boateng is still a good defender, Arsenal should probably steer clear, even if his price tag is minimal like the reports are suggesting. Here’s why:

For the last few years, Arsenal have been obsessed – and I mean obsessed – with the “stop-gap” fix. Unai Emery was never the man to take the club back to the top, and he was never going to last more than 2 years, but they gave him the job anyway.

Sokratis was never going to improve the defence long-term, and neither was David Luiz – they signed them anyway. Mkhitaryan wasn’t going to transform the attack, or even benefit it much beyond a year or two – he, of course, was signed too.

Jerome Boateng resembles a signing like this. At 31 years of age, and nowhere near as good as he used to be, Boateng will not be able to improve this Arsenal backline for years to come. Sure, he might make a slight difference from now until May, but once he falls off completely and the Gunners are stuck with his massive wage bill, they will likely live to regret ever bringing him to the club.

With other key players like Aubameyang, Ozil, and Luiz ageing, Arteta needs to find younger, long-term solutions to slot in alongside pieces like Guendouzi, Saliba, Tierney, Martinelli, and Saka, to help the Gunners achieve their goals down the line.