The analogy Mikel Arteta opted for was a train leaving the station. It was a warning as much as it was part of the sales pitch: Declan Rice had to get on board right away, because the Arsenal manager would not be waiting around for anyone.
Rice, then West Ham United captain, was convinced Arteta truly saw him as the missing piece of the Arsenal jigsaw.
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A year earlier, it was Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko being sold the same vision, with the chance to upgrade their status from squad players at a dominant Manchester City to being main men at an aspirational Arsenal.
After helping transform their new employers in their 2022-23 debut season from a team who had failed to make the Champions League in six years to one who led the Premier League for 248 days of that campaign, the duo’s standing as integral components looked indisputable.
Having helped to get the train moving, though, there are signs both could be left behind as Arsenal look ahead to the next stop down the line.
Both have dropped down the hierarchy as others have grown and this season’s recruits have asserted themselves.
David Raya, Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba, Ben White, Rice, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz are all virtual ever-presents. The remaining three names on the team sheet are open to debate, with Jesus and Zinchenko two of the options for those spots.
Last season, Arteta said the Brazilian forward was the player who “changed Arsenal’s world”, while the Ukrainian was his “perfectionist”, who elevated the technical and tactical level needed to be an elite team. It may seem harsh that two players of such class could be reduced from cornerstones to mere ‘options’ so rapidly, but it captures the speed and aggression at which this Arsenal squad is evolving.
Their injury records are the main reason it has become difficult to rely upon them, and have created the space for the team to change without them. Jesus has started only 47 of Arsenal’s 94 games in all competitions since joining, while for Zinchenko it’s 52.
Jesus has had three injuries this season, in addition to the three-month spell he had out during the previous one with a knee issue that prompted him to admit this month he cannot remember the last time he played without pain.
The first time anyone could reasonably contemplate Jesus not being the guaranteed No 9 came during the pre-season tour in the U.S., when Arteta was asked whether the striker, nearing a return from injury, would officially be made vice-captain.
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“We need a bit more time to make sure his foot is clear, the roles are clear; we make one decision and that is it,” Arteta said that day in Los Angeles. “If we do it too early, we may have to change it as the market is so unpredictable and I don’t want to do that.”
Arteta’s decision to have Jesus and Zinchenko in the line-up against Aston Villa on Sunday was a big platform for both as neither had started most of the games during Arsenal’s strongest run of form this season.
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The 2-0 home defeat that followed added to the growing sense that, as they have matured and steadied as a team in the past year, Arsenal look more solid without Zinchenko at left-back and more potent without Jesus leading the attack.
Both have super-strengths that make them irresistible at times, but there are also weaknesses in their games that have become increasingly conspicuous over the season. There are now fixtures that instinctively do not feel like Jesus or Zinchenko-type games. There are not many key players at rival clubs you can say that about.
While the trip to Brighton & Hove Albion a week before the Villa match looked like a Zinchenko game due to the need to play through the press, the trips to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United left on Arsenal’s run-in have a whiff of hazardous terrain for a player whose style is high-stakes. Similarly, there are fixtures in which Havertz has become the obvious choice up top as he offers a focal point, movement in behind and a penalty-box presence, compared to Jesus’ floating style.
In the past week, the perennial risk-versus-reward of using Zinchenko has been highlighted.
When he came on against Bayern Munich, he showed why his playmaking ability can be so valuable and there were examples against Villa where he glided across the field with the ball, ignoring shouts to play it early, which created a great pass from nothing.
That poise is very different to what Jakub Kiwior or even Takehiro Tomiyasu offer but Zinchenko has developed an unfortunate reputation which means that even when he is playing really well, there is a sense he might be responsible for a few glaring errors before the 90 minutes are up.
Against Villa, there was the indecision at the edge of his box in the first half, followed by the risky choice to take on a player inside the penalty area, which led to Youri Tielemans hitting the bar for the visitors. There was another moment late on when he tried to bring a ball down and miscontrolled it, leading to a Villa counter.
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Zinchenko is a daredevil on the ball but defensively he is flimsy and that has led to teams targeting his side with diagonal switches and quick counter-attacks.
Both Jesus and Zinchenko are the most unstructured, off-the-cuff players in the team when they are picked and it is therefore no surprise they are the two Arteta gets most frustrated with when they lose possession.
The manager’s decision to move Havertz from centre-forward to midfield for the first time in eight games to accommodate Jesus (whose only two starts since late January came on the left wing) on Sunday unnecessarily altered the rhythm of the team.
It was not that Jesus played badly. His first-half ball across to Leandro Trossard might well have led to the opening goal and his instinctive style brought some of that chaos that made Arsenal’s attack so dangerous last season, but they look less precise and penetrative than when Havertz is up front.
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Arteta’s ruthless approach to squad building has been plain to see for some time.
He spent £24million ($29.9m at the current exchange rate) on Aaron Ramsdale in summer 2021 and the incumbent No 1 Bernd Leno, seven years his senior, was replaced as first-choice within three league games. Then after two strong seasons in which Ramsdale became a fans’ favourite, Arteta surprised everyone by signing David Raya in pre-season. Ramsdale was given the first four league games before being replaced, and a summer exit now looks inevitable.
Kieran Tierney was instrumental in holding the fort during the post-lockdown games at the end of 2019-20 and in January 2021 was tipped as a future Arsenal captain by Arteta. Eighteen months later, Zinchenko was signed, Tierney’s conventional left-back role was made redundant and he was forced to imitate an unnatural inverted role in his six league starts.
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Look at the esteem Emile Smith Rowe was held in at the start of 2022, having played a crucial role in re-energising the team alongside fellow academy graduate Saka. By the time he came back from groin surgery in January last year the team had moved on, meaning he has started only three Premier League games since.
Something similar looks likely to happen to Thomas Partey now he has returned from injury — Jorginho and Rice have raised the level in midfield and, with a year left on his deal, the Ghanaian’s future looks uncertain.
Despite Arsenal having such a strong squad, this summer could be very busy in terms of outgoings.
Cedric Soares, Mohamed Elneny and Jorginho will all be out of contract, while Partey is heading into his final 12 months. Tierney, Nuno Tavares, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Marquinhos are out on loan and likely to leave permanently, while players who have featured little, such as Ramsdale, Fabio Vieira, Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah, could all be available.
Even Tomiyasu’s recent two-year extension was notable for its length. The club sought to reward his flexibility by increasing his salary but while his profile as a utility defender may still prove very useful, the deal suggested there may come a time when the squad has evolved again to mean his flexibility is no longer required.
This is the brutal reality at a club still in the process of assembling a squad as strong and deep as Manchester City’s. There is little room for sentimentality or romanticising past versions of players.
Whether Arsenal go on to win two trophies, one or none at all in the next month or so, Arteta will not allow the train to stand still.
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(Top photos: Getty Images)
