Bender or Schneiderlin – Who would be the best target for Arsenal? Head to head analysis

I did say in my introduction that the point of the article was mainly to give my opinion of who Arsenal should buy. I am French and obviously that makes at least one common point with Schneiderlin and one could make the legitimate argument that it would be chauvinistic to praise him. However, the main reason why I would really love to see Schneiderlin play for Arsenal is not because he is French. First of all, I must say that both Bender and Schneiderlin are very good players, getting stronger and stronger and who still have a big progress margin. And either way, provided Arsenal actually purchase one of them, I will be satisfied because Arsenal desperately need new blood and fresh legs in this position.

Schneiderlin has one main advantage over Bender: he has been playing for Southampton for 6 years now thus he has reaped the benefits of English football and gathered a lot of knowledge and experience throughout the years. Southampton were promoted two years ago and Schneiderlin has been praised very regularly. He has showed great maturity and that he is fully capable of being one of the best players in the Premier League and likely to play in one of the best teams.

I like the idea of associating Ramsey to him. I put it down on paper and the simple sight of it was exciting. Arsenal need someone capable of defending, protecting the back-four but at the same time gifted technically enough to take part in the build-up.

With Schneiderlin in the team, Ramsey (or Wilshere, or any other player alongside him) will have the chance to get more involved higher on the pitch and less worry about defensive issues. Of course, I am not saying "Oh great, with Schneiderlin, we can play with 5 attacking midfielders" but it would surely restructure Arsenal's midfield especially given Schneiderlin's ability to "dictate" his deeper position.

To conclude from the aforesaid points, with Schneiderlin in the squad, Arsenal would have an interesting option, slightly different from what we have had for many years. A defensive box-to-box would be something new for Arsenal, particularly because Ramsey happens to struggle defensively and Arteta/Flamini are (very) tired and do not provide the same outlets.

Credit to Squawka and Whoscored for the figures and to Eurosport for the pictures.

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