With Unai Emery at helm, there are many rumors of his ex-players joining him at Arsenal especially with midfielders like Steven N’Zonzi, who joined AS Roma last summer and more flamboyantly, Ever Banega.
Ever Banega has popped up on Arsenal’s rumor list multiple times now and the Argentine has snapped his way back up that transfer rumors linking him to Arsenal lately.
Banega played under Unai Emery 94 times at their time together at Sevilla and Unai Emery is rumored to bring in his Argentine engine to Arsenal.
Banega shone brightly and was an instrumental figure, helping the Spanish club in their second and third consecutive Europa League triumphs. After such an extended period of success, Sevilla inevitably lost their prize assets to other leading clubs around Europe. Sporting director Monchi left for Roma, while Emery departed for PSG and Banega was lured away to Inter Milan.
However, after just one campaign at Inter Milan, Banega returned to Sevilla at the start of the 2017-18 season. Despite what proved to be a chaotic year for the club, with three different managers over the course of the campaign, the 30-year-old was by far their most consistent player according to whoscored.com statistics, boasting the best passing percentages and average match ratings. All this while different coaches implemented varied tactics and changes to the team playing around him, which is credit to his adaptability.
Unai Emery’s chemistry with Ever Banega has more than Sevilla. Ever Banega, Olympic gold medalist with Argentina in 2008, was part of Unai Emery’s squad during his time at Valencia. The pair worked together at Valencia from 2009 to 2012.
After his move from Valencia, Banega credited Unai Emery for being one of the core reasons to join Sevilla.
“If we didn’t have a good relationship, I wouldn’t be here,” Banega said. “My relationship with him was terrific and I cannot wait to be at the coach’s disposal.”
The same could happen once again as Unai Emery brings one of his trusted foe to Arsenal in Ever Banega, just as Maurizio Sarri brought Jorginho with him to Chelsea from Napoli this summer, as Jose Mourinho brought Nemenja Matic from Chelsea to Manchester United when the Portuguese was appointed as head coach at Old Trafford.
Arsenal have already invested highly in the midfield since Emery took the reign in July, with arrivals of Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi in the summer from Sampdoria and Lorient respectively which combined amounts to total fee of over £30 million. They also have star packed midfield featuring likes of Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Mohamed Elneny and Ainsley Maitland-Niles – all or them are capable of featuring in the middle of the park.
Ever Banega can be reliable in the central midfield, he is not someone whose arrival will make a huge difference like the recent arrivals of Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Lucas Torreira. Though Banega comes in with a decent resume at thirty, he would probably be a low end starter who could occasionally come into the team and be a back-up on injuries.
Ever Banega won Europa League for two consecutive years (2014/15, 2015/16) under Unai Emery
The Sun recently reported that Arsenal will have to splash something around £18 million, if they want to acquire the services of Ever Banega from Sevilla.
To be honest, Ever Banega coming to Arsenal just doesn’t sum up with the quality of players Unai Emery already have. He isn’t World class midfielder and at thirty you always question about ‘how soon he will decline’.
The Gooners would rather like to giving opportunities to young talents they got in Granit Xhaka, Mohamed Elneny, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, than bringing a shot term reliability in Ever Banega.
