Arsenal Targeting Another Ligue 1 Star: Can He Solve Their Woes At The Back?

As per latest reports by talkSPORT, Arsenal are interested in signing Toulouse’s shot-stopper, Alban Lafont, in the summer. Though quite a few clubs are interested in him — Watford, Lazio and Napoli included — the player himself has expressed his fondness for Arsenal and this has really added a lot of fuel to the speculation.

Lafont blossomed in the youth ranks of AS Lattoise and Toulouse and was eventually handed his first start for the senior side of the French outfit in 2015. He has also featured in the various youth sides of France and the calibre he has shown despite being a 19-year-old is quite commendable. No wonder the Gunners are interested to make him sign on the dotted line.

The custodian is predominantly a sweeper keeper and has been found to be very comfortable in dealing with shots from long-rangers as well as well as from close quarters. He is a really athletic goalkeeper and his quick reflexes have often gotten his team vital points. He has shown that he can pull magnificent saves and do that on a consistent basis.

Arsenal have been in all sorts of trouble this season and in the upcoming summer, we might see a lot of changes at the north London based club. They do have two veteran goalkeepers in Petr Cech and David Ospina in their ranks. However, Cech will turn 36 in May and Ospina is yet to feature on a regular basis, which implies that signing a new goalkeeper is imperative come summer.

Thus, Lafont could be a good asset for them. He makes a good use of his tall height and is found to bark orders at the backline more often than not. He is an astute distributor of the ball and his positioning sense is quite decent as well. So far this season, he has made 27 appearances in Ligue 1, notching up 10 clean sheets and making 2.56 saves per game on an average.

Like any other youngster, the French youngster has some weaknesses to work on. He is yet to polish himself completely in dealing with the set-pieces and his distribution under pressure can be frustrating at times. However, he is still young and under proper guidance, he should be able to better his credentials in the coming seasons.

Arsenal can’t afford to rely on an ageing Cech and an inconsistent Ospina next season, so they should go after Lafont come the summer transfer window.

Statistics Credits: Squawka