Arsenal began their European campaign in Austria this week, with a narrow 2-1 win over Rapid Vienna, the country’s most historic club. This marks the fourth season in a row Arsenal have competed in the Europa League.
One night earlier, and approximately 200 miles east, Red Bull Salzburg began their own European adventure in the Champions League. It is their second successive campaign in Europe’s premium continental competition and it is in no small part down to the roster of exciting young players at their disposal.
Erling Haaland set Salzburg on the way to qualification at the beginning of last season, before moving to Borussia Dortmund. Their season was finished with a flurry by Hungarian highlight-reel footballer Dominik Szoboszlai, who registered a handful of goals and assists, punctuated by some spectacular free-kicks.
![[FILE] Liverpool’s Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah (L) runs with the ball as Arsenal’s Brazilian defender Gabriel closes in during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium in London. (Photo by Catherine Ivill / POOL / AFP)](https://www.afriupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/000_97B779-scaled-e1703231851386-350x250.jpg "Liverpool host Arsenal in battle for Premier League Christmas No. 1 1")
Arsenal could take a leaf out of the Red Bull playbook and target players in lesser leagues to catapult them back into the Champions League they enjoyed participating in for much of the last 20 years.
![[FILE] Liverpool’s Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah (L) runs with the ball as Arsenal’s Brazilian defender Gabriel closes in during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium in London. (Photo by Catherine Ivill / POOL / AFP)](https://www.afriupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/000_97B779-scaled-e1703231851386-120x86.jpg "Liverpool host Arsenal in battle for Premier League Christmas No. 1 12")
One player the Gunners could sign is Patson Daka, the Zambian forward who has been excellent in front of goal throughout 2020. The 22-year-old started this season strongly, scoring four times in the first half of Salzburg’s opening OFB-Cup tie.
He followed that up with goals against Wolfsberger, Altach, and braces against Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Hartberg, to bring his tally for the season to 11. With Alexandre Lacazette’s long-term future at Arsenal uncertain, Daka would be a ready-made replacement to slot into the central striker’s role at the Emirates Stadium.
He is a one-touch finisher, and has to improvise for a lot of his goals, twisting and contorting his body in order to get a decisive touch on the ball, poking it past an onrushing goalkeeper.
Salzburg have form when it comes to selling burgeoning attacking prospects too; both Erling Haaland and Sadio Mané are recent graduates from the Austrian club’s conveyor belt of talent.
Daka is equally adept at finding space inside the penalty area, akin to the style of Eddie Nketiah, who he would likely tussle with for a starting spot. The duo could help Mikel Arteta realise his vision of a young, vibrant Arsenal team, littered with varied skill-sets.
One method Daka’s club employ is replacing their star players before they have left. Waiting in the wings for the Zambian’s eventual departure is Karim Adeyemi, a former Bayern Munich youth product, and Junior Chukwubuike Adama. Both have been scoring plenty for satellite club FC Liefering.
Arsenal have threatened to do something similar, purchasing players ahead of time to allow them to settle in before blooding them into the first team.
William Saliba looks to be the clearest example of such a policy in action, but implementing it across the board as Salzburg do could facilitate a steady stream of teenagers and late-stage academy graduates populating the first-team.
The pathway for doing just that has been blocked in recent seasons, but the emergence of Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Bukayo Saka is emblematic of a club who are now more in touch with their own youth prospects.
Donyell Malen, Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Ismael Bennacer all feature prominently for club sides in the Europa League across Europe, but were once Hale End boys. Implementing a reverse of that – signing youngsters from lesser leagues to ease into the first-team – could bring about an improvement in terms of performances on the pitch.
Amine Gouiri is a team-mate of Reine-Adelaide’s at Nice this season and has started strongly following a €7 million switch from Olympique Lyonnais. Versatility is one of Gouiri’s key attributes. He plays off the left in a similar vein to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but is primarily a goalscorer through the middle.
His is a unique skill-set that would suit Arsenal by giving Arteta the option of fielding the Frenchman and Aubameyang interchangeably. The only concern would be a serious knee injury that derailed his 2019/20 season, but with the right care and attention to his workload, the 20-year-old remains a top prospect – and one Arsenal should be pursuing to ease the transition when Lacazette eventually moves on.
The club may have also signed Thomas Partey this summer, but his likely partner Dani Ceballos is only on loan. After this season, he will likely return to Real Madrid, who will demand an exorbitant fee to free him permanently.
Finding a player with Ceballos’ attributes in Arsenal’s price range is difficult, but there is one in Ukraine who promises to be everything Arteta is looking for in partner for Partey.
Shakhtar Donetsk’s Marcos Antonio demonstrated his ball-progressing capabilities against Real Madrid in the Champions League this week. He was instrumental in securing a famous win in the Spanish capital.
He is also a very adept defensive player, tidying up and pursuing opposition players with the same tenacity and will that Ceballos displays.
A more diminutive player than Partey who’s similar in stature to Lucas Torreira, Antonio has more flair to his game than the destructive Uruguayan. He has taken a peculiar route to Champions League acclaim, traversing the Portuguese second tier with Estoril before signing with Shakhtar.
As far as hidden gems go, the unassuming Antonio certainly fits the bill, along with the underappreciated Gouiri and Austria’s hottest goalscoring prodigy Daka.
If Arsenal are to ensure they are stocked when their older players leave, these are three options they should certainly explore.
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