As arsenal.com announce that the club has agreed terms with Barcelona for Fabregas, his replacement is apparently already being lined up. Shakhtar Donetsk’s Jadson is reportedly on his way to London, with a fee already in place with his Ukrainian team.
Shakhtar’s manager, Mircea Lucescu, has said the following:
“I can confirm Jadson is wanted by Arsenal. Now it all depends on him.”
Lucescu’s comments indicate that all that is left to agree are personal terms for Jadson. A transfer fee in the region of £10 million is Jadson’s reported transfer value.
Jadson has scored 60 goals in 257 games for Shakhtar, in an attacking midfield role. The 27 year old has experience in the UEFA Cup and the Champions League. In fact, he scored the winner as his side beat Werder Bremen in the 2009 UEFA Cup final, when he was also named man of the match.
With Fabregas and Nasri set to depart, Wenger needs to add more midfield creativity to his side. Despite the number of attackers in the squad, we are lacking central midfielders to supply them. The only midfielders in our squad are Wilshere, Song, Ramsey, Diaby, Frimpong and Rosicky. However, we also have Eastmond, Lansbury and Henderson from the reserves. In addition, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Arshavin could play in the Fabregas role.
Jadson would be a decent replacement for Cesc. Although it’s not like for like – nobody can replace our mercurial captain – he has the experience and skill to play at the heart of our midfield.
The Brazilian said the following on his Twitter:
“My friends! If all goes well at the start of next week I will have news for you.”
Let’s hope that this news means that Jadson is going to be a Gooner.
The Sun have linked Arsenal with another striker, the Brazilian Willian, who currently plays for Shakhtar Donetsk. He is a pacey attacking midfielder, who can also be employed on the wing, although we have been linked with wingers Hazard and Gervinho, as you can see here.
He’s not a massive goal threat, with only 24 goals in 162 appearances in the Ukrainian league. At 22 years of age, he is yet to be called up to the Brazilian national side, although he has made appearances at U20 level. Then again, he could be forgiven for a lack of international action given the skilful players that currently occupy the Brazilian midfield.
Shakhtar are thought to demand somewhere in the region of £12-15 million, but Wenger is unlikely to want to fork out so much on a relatively unproven, yet undoubtedly talented player.
He has had Champions League experience, helping them qualify for the quarter finals of the competition last year.
However, Willian does play in a similar position to Nasri, Arshavin and Rosicky. With Arshavin having pledged his future to Arsenal (although there is still a possibility he may leave), this transfer would pave the way for either Nasri or Rosicky to leave.
With Nasri still deciding his future, our Czech international may have to reconsider his future if Willian (or Gervinho/Hazard) were to be bought.
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