What does Arsene Wenger need more than anything? Well, there probably isn’t a single position he wouldn’t like to find some sort of upgrade in, including the attacking midfield and the wings. Because he loves his players young and French-speaking, Adel Taarabt of QPR is on the Arsenal sights for a January transfer.
In terms of attacking midfield, the present and the future, Taarabt doesn’t seem like someone who answers a certain need. With Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, not to mention Rosicky, Arsenal are stacked at the front of the midfield, although Taarabt is a bit more direct and productive when it comes to goals that what Wenger has now.
Another option is using Taarabt as a winger, where Wenger is growing tired of Gervinho, while Theo Walcott, who might not be staying forever, prefers playing as a striker instead of the wing. Lukas Podolski is safe, but his contribution has been disappointing after a promising opening month.
Taarabt has had his ups & down with QPR, but has recently signed a deal that should keep him until 2016 with the worst team in the Premier League, or at least make him cost a lot of money to anyone who tries to purchase him in that time frame. He has played in 6 league matches this season so far, scoring 2 goals, both of them in defeats to West Brom and West Ham. He’s been with the club on loan and later as a permanant fixture since 2008, since then playing in all competitions 128 times, scoring 31 goals.
For their most talented player, QPR would love to see £15 million as the fee that will be agreed upon, but always careful spending Arsenal (a bit of a myth) are looking to purchase the player for less than £10 million, hopefully around £7 million. While Taarabt is signed for a long time which shouldn’t pressure QPR into selling him, their lack of success and constant relegation threat hanging over their heads does hurt players’ motivations, especially those who know they can play for bigger and better clubs.