20 Jan 2018 22:36:27
I wish Mikhi well at Arsenal. I think he's a very good player, just hasn't worked for him, I don't think he suits Jose' style tbh. But he is a good player and I think he'll do very well in your side. That said I think we've done very well out of it too, bringing in one of the best in the league, he'll improve us no end.
21 Jan 2018 07:35:21
Bear with me for a longish post. Under the circumstances, with Alexis never putting in the effort that made him a valuable purchase in the first place, we needed to get rid of him and fast. Mkhi is obviously not as good a player when Alexis is at his best and not as much a goal threat, but in the last year or so for me it's been almost better not even having Alexis on the pitch.
So, that leaves us with Mkhi. I think his talent was obvious to everyone at Dortmund but there were noted attitude problems - whether his own fault or Tuchel's, it's hard to tell, but Wenger is known for his legendary trust in players (for good or ill) . This makes it a better bet that Mkhi will succeed with us compared to with United, so I think we'll see a much better player than we saw at OT.
Last, Alexis is 'worth' more I think to most neutrals and you definitely need a goal threat as Lukaku is not a great striker and under the circumstances, for us to get a 35m player in Mkhi for a man who was going to leave on a free in 5 months is great business. I think despite the misery of losing one of our best players, we are getting what we need - a direct, clever playmaker who can link up with Ozil and feed Lacazette. United get what they need too, someone who can play all across the front 3 and provide link-up, creativity, and goal threat. Dunno if we should have strengthened United who we will be competing with for 4th, but Mkhi could more than make up for it. We'll see. Best of luck for the season mate.