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Arsenal are looking to the loan market to fill the gaps in their depleted squad, especially in central midfield.
With both Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny away at AFCON, that has left Granit Xhaka and Albert Lokonga as their only two recognised players in that position and Xhaka has contracted Covid. Mikel Arteta was forced to field the teenager Charlie Patino in the team which played Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on Sunday, but he struggled on his full debut or the club, not helped by having such an inexperienced partner in Lokonga beside him.
And already question marks are being raised about the decision to allow Ainsley Maitland-Niles to leave to join Roma on loan for the rest of the season.
Now the Gunners are hoping to sign somebody on loan as a matter of priority to boost their midfield options.
It Is hoped that Xhaka may have recovered to play in the North London derby against Tottenham ion Sunday, but he is unlikely to be match fit having missed a full week’s training.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.