Every successful Arsene Wenger team has had a goalscoring midfielder. But Hleb has failed to consistently find the net this season and could be on the move. Whether he will be missed is another matter.
'Exciting and frustrating in equal measures he would get in excellent positions at times but would seem to rather look for that killer pass to set up a team-mate than take a shot himself'
The current season still has a week to go but already the transfer rumour mill has started.
Aleksandr Hleb has been the subject of a lot of the recent speculation, with Inter Milan quite openly displaying their admiration, much to Arsene Wenger’s annoyance. The question I ask myself is, would he really be missed that much?
Three seasons ago with the pending departure of Robert Pires and the waning abilities of the now injury prone Freddie Ljunberg, Wenger signed Hleb from Stuttgart saying at the time: “Hleb has proved his ability with his performances in the Bundesliga in recent seasons and he definitely has the potential to do very well with Arsenal.”
Deployed mainly as a wide player during his first two seasons he took time to settle. With his tendency to cut inside rather than take on the full back to the outside he would constantly be crowded out and I feel became predictable and easy to defend against.
Exciting and frustrating in equal measures he would get in excellent positions at times but would seem to rather look for that killer pass to set up a team-mate than take a shot himself, losing possession more often than not.
The start of this season saw a change of position with a more central role playing off the main striker and things started well with goals in the first two games of the season, away at Sparta Prague in the Champions League qualifier first leg and the winner at home against Fulham in the league.
But this would prove to be a false dawn with only two more goals to follow in the entire season, one in each of the aforementioned competitions. Admittedly Hleb did not play in the second striker position for the whole season, due to the emergence of Eduardo and the occasional guest appearance of Robin van Persie, but despite rave reviews from many pundits for his performances ultimately his end product was insufficient in my opinion.
In every successful Arsenal team under Wenger there has been a consistent goalscoring midfielder, Marc Overmars, Ljungberg and the exceptional Robert Pires. With only seven goals and 12 assists in 89 league appearances i would be quite willing to bid Hleb “Arrivederci”.
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