With Aaron Ramsey's departure looming and the need for a natural winger so desperately obvious, Arsenal's scouts and transfer staff are rumoured to be looking at Barcelona and Spanish international midfielder Denis Suarez. Somewhat of a journeyman already, Suarez has played for six teams within five clubs at senior level. One of these clubs was Sevilla when current Arsenal Head Coach Unai Emery was manager so the two already know each other well which is a great ice breaker should the Spaniard arrive in North London. Suarez is a dynamic and technical footballer capable of playing in a number of positions across midfield; but would he be a replacement for Ramsey or the winger we so crave?
Who is Denis Suarez?
Born in Salceda de Caselas, a small town in the province of Pontevedra in northwest Spain along the Portuguese borders, on January 9th 1994, Denis Suarez played the first part of his youth career at local side Porrino Industrial before moving to the more known Celta de Vigo in 2009. Manchester City beat off interest from some of Europe's top clubs to sign Suarez in 2011 for a deal rising to a fraction beyond £2 and a half million. He featured in City's preseason tours and made one competitive senior appearance in the league cup but after winning the club's young player of the year award in 2012, Barcelona snapped him up in 2013 on a four year deal. Suarez initially started with Barca's B team for the first season before going out on loan to Unai Emery's Sevilla for the 2014/15 season. He played over thirty times for Emery's outfit before Barcelona sold him the following summer to fellow La Liga side Villareal. The Yellow Submarine only had him for a year before Barca exercised their buy back clause and re-signed Suarez in July 2016. Since then he's amassed sixty-nine first team appearances totaling eight goals and ten assists, being part of three trophy wins in the process.
Suarez's Strengths
Mostly used as a creative midfielder sometimes on the flanks, Suarez has shown to be a talented dribbler with more than a step over or two in his tool box. He can sell a dummy, use a quick step to get round or utilise a good eye to find a team mate, in any situation. With this, he is therefore flexible enough to be deployed off the flanks, or in a more central traditional number eight position, just in front of a holding midfielder. His two-footed nature means he can take the ball on either foot, and go either way, ensuring he's a deadly and unpredictable attacking source. Although not blessed with blistering pace, Suarez's career positionally is taking a similar route to that of Andres Iniesta who was often deployed in wide attacking areas earlier on in his career. With Barcelona's traditional forward movement centering around Lionel Messi, the movement between the front line (and usually one if not two midfielders) is so fluid that Suarez ends up in a number of attacking areas. The real problem is that he isn't seeing enough pitch time to truly take advantage of his natural potential and is struggling to really develop in one position or area. He has however got a number of strengths to his technical weaponry and is therefore a viable and flexible option that can play in a number of positions. This could end up hindering him though should he not nail down one role or one position going forward.
He knows quality and has experience in playing with and training alongside some of the best talents football has ever seen. Much of this in-game experience is limited as already stated but knowing how to play with such skilled players means he knows good football, good movement and possesses a certain level of understanding in order to play with the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho. Coming to Arsenal (or anywhere else for that matter), he'd bring such a high level of football understanding and experience of players' movement, forward running, positioning and philosophy that would stand him in good stead.
The archetypal Spanish midfielder; short, slender and openly two-footed, Denis Suarez is a hybrid of Santi Cazorla and David Silva; a permanent creative threat, capable of a dazzling dribble as well as a perfectly executed eye-of-the-needle pass. The difference? Consistency. Cazorla showed his best by dictating the pace of a game and controlling Arsenal's midfield from a centrally deep position. Two-footed and light on his feet, he could dribble, pass and anticipate very well. Silva on the other hand has shown to be a dynamic creator who pops up in a number of both central and wide areas to influence a game. He shows weekly how fluid he is in any formation and just how talented that left foot is with delightful tiki-taka passing and precision through balls. Suarez though, is a merge of the two but has is yet to really deliver the same standard game after game. Comfortable on either foot, Suarez has a low center of gravity but good body strength in the dribble much like Cazorla and Silva, whilst being able to creatively find his team mates with one touch passing and slide-rule balls relying on exceptional vision. He's shown he's capable but the real question is can he produce week in week out when his team needs him...
Suarez's Weaknesses
Being of a similar build to that of the great Iniesta, Suarez isn't blessed with much of a frame. Although strength often comes with a low centre of gravity, Suarez could be thrown around a little more in the Premier League compared to La Liga. There are plenty of similar players who have been a success in England but they are of a greater level and can sustain such performance - players like David Silva. Potentially playing Suarez on the wings could help somewhat as coming up against the more slender full backs would be easier rather than the big, bullying centre backs that he'd face in central areas. He is technically capable but his small stature could see him kicked around and bullied at times. This could be worse at Arsenal too, as often teams look to kick the Gunners in an attempt to dislodge their flowing football, exposing him to even more tough tackles and brutal physical play.
Having endured big stints as a squad player at Barcelona over the last season or two, he's had very little big game experience. The sheer amount of international quality and high calibre players at Barca means that he's so far down the pecking order leading to little pitch time in the big games. If leading, Barca don't look to him to bolster the defence and rightly so but equally they don't necessarily stick him on if they need a goal either; both resulting in little minutes on the field. Being part of a top six group in the Premier League, big games come thick and fast for Arsenal and his ability to affect these games could be questionable. Could he turn a game on its head in the blink of an eye when Liverpool and Mo Salah are all over us? History has so far proved that this is unlikely but at twenty-five years of age, he's still a few years off prime and a new club with the right development and right opportunities could really see him step it up.
Much like any attacking or forward thinking player, the defensive side to his game lacks a fair amount. Although most attacking midfielders are not required to defend, they still need an edge or an understanding of discipline and/or thought processes of the best times to go, stay or go big. Arsenal have a clear lack of this throughout the current squad with both full backs often being caught so high up the pitch, and it took Torreira's arrival and Emery's tinkerman approach to really get anywhere near fixing the issue. Suarez comes with the same reputation and at Barcelona he's never likely to be forced into defensive roles as they see so much ball, have a great defence and control most games from start to finish.
How would Suarez fit in at Arsenal?
3-4-3
One of Unai Emery's go to formations for his Arsenal team that builds upon a solid defensive unit of three centre backs is the 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1. In this formation, Suarez is perfectly suited the two attacking roles behind the lone striker as he can duck in and out of wide areas with ease, can use his flexibility well by rotating with the other forward in this role, and doesn't have much defensive responsibility in doing so. He'd be allowed to focus all his attention on creating chances for his team mates and can also play between the lines with ease, something he's so comfortable with. These false wide areas would provide him with the perfect platform to link up with the striker and drop deep to create from midfield but with the added benefit of someone like Bellerin or Kolasinac bombing down his flank on the overlap. His lack of pace could hinder him a little in looking to dribble due to the heavily congested midfield area but he's skillful enough to cause problems regardless.
4-2-3-1
The other commonly used formation that's often deployed by Emery is the back four with two midfielders in the engine room behind an attacking trio of forward thinking creators. Suarez could occupy any of these three forward roles, in behind a lone centre forward. The movement between these three players is so free and so natural especially when the players filling these roles are not out and out wingers (that's an issue for another day!). Suarez, Ozil and Aubameyang behind Lacazette would be a fantastic shape for Suarez as he'd have Ozil's guile, Aubameyang's pace and Lacazette's movement to play with. Although, without a winger this formation does narrow the overall shape a lot but two full backs (rather than wing backs) who are responsible with their attacking thoughts could combat this. The Granit Xhaka / Lucas Torreira combination in central midfield is a good, reliable shield to build from that allows the four attacking players to truly be free. Suarez would fit right in.
4-1-2-1-2
In a midfield diamond formation, which we've seen Emery try his hand at earlier this season, Denis Suarez is pretty well suited to three of the four midfield roles. Depending on the players playing, this is a fluid formation with the only real locked-in role being the holding midfielder that would almost certainly be Lucas Torreira. Suarez's two footed nature, dribbling ability and expert vision means he could comfortably influence a game in this formation. However, as we have learnt, this shape lacks true width and as much as Suarez can plug a hole in this area, he isn't (or should not be) a long term solution but his flexibility in roles is much more advantageous in a shape like this compared to something like a three-man forward line where he'd very much be tied to a wing.
Conclusion
With the sorts of loan-now-obligation-to-buy later deals being banded around at present, it's obviously a good deal for Arsenal. The agreed fee could be an issue if Barcelona see his value as anything more than it is in reality but that's all to be revealed should a deal be completed. Although a winger is surely a more pressing issue than another attacking albeit versatile midfielder, Emery needs 'his' pieces in place as soon as possible so the rebuild can continue. If these targets are available in January, which is notoriously difficult to complete transfer deals, then the club need to go after them. Denis Suarez is no different. He's of an age where a long term deal, possibly followed by another in a few years, would be ideal, depending on how he settles. Mislintat, Sanllehi and co would be wise to get this done as soon as possible, as another contributing factor is that some fractions of fans see playing players like Aaron Ramsey (who's clearly on the move) as wrong. Whether we all agree or not, having another option in these areas of the pitch can only be good, especially if he's in it for the long term.
With Mkhitaryan out until mid-February, and with Welbeck unlikely to play for Arsenal again, there are definitely open spots to be filled. Denis Suarez would be a great addition and let's be honest, any eventual fee won't be mega bucks. He'd be a squad player for the rest of this season one would imagine but with a full preseason at Arsenal over the summer, he'd be a great asset next time around, once he's settled in. The club can offer more playing time than his current employers so fingers crossed for the next week or so to see whether this deal can get over the line.
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