In the first fortnight of the transfer window being open, Arsenal seemed to be doing very little to no business, but over the last week or so, the North Londoners have sprung into life.
The Premier League runners-up kicked things off by signing 18-year-old goalkeeper Lucas Nygaard last week before confirming the permanent signing of David Raya on Thursday.
Since then, attention has firmly swung to the future of Bologna and Italy star Riccardo Calafiori, with recent reports suggesting that his transfer is mere days away from completion.
However, based on recent reports, Edu Gaspar and Co aren't quite done there. The latest name touted for a move following Calafiori's is a player who's been compared to Nico Williams and could be the perfect Reiss Nelson replacement.
Arsenal transfer news
According to a recent report from Football Transfers, Arsenal are interested in and have been 'closely monitoring' LOSC Lille's star winger, Edon Zhegrova.
The report claims that there have not been any formal talks between the two clubs, and while his contract is set to run until 2026, the player wants to leave in 2024.
The report does not reveal how much the French side wants for the dynamic attacker, but Sky Sports Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg claimed that his price was between €17m and €20m in January this year, which converts to between £14m and £17m.
Overall, it looks like a relatively straightforward and affordable transfer to get over the line, and with Nelson's exit looking increasingly likely this summer, one the Gunners should not pass up on – the comparisons to Williams are just a bonus.
How Zhegrova compares to Nelson and Williams
Now, before we look at how Zhegrova compares to Nelson, let's look at this comparison to Athletic Bilbao's Williams.
The comparison itself stems from FBref, which looks at players in every position across Europe's top five leagues and then creates a list of the ten most similar players for each player in those competitions based on their positions, and they have concluded that the Spaniard is the second most similar winger to the Kosovan.
This can be seen best in some of their underlying numbers, as they rank closely for non-penalty expected goals and assists, actual non-penalty goals, progressive passes received, key passes, crosses, shot-creating actions and successful take-ons, all per 90.
Non-Penalty Expected Goals + Assists
0.49
0.46
Non-Penalty Goals
0.24
0.20
Progressive Passes Received
12.70
12.00
Key Passes
1.81
1.87
Crosses
6.85
6.10
Shot-Creating Actions
4.84
4.81
Successful Take-Ons
3.54
3.43
So, with his similarities to the Bilbao ace quite clear, how does he stack up to the player he may replace at the Emirates?
Well, from a pure output perspective, it's not a competition as last season, the Lille sensation, whom content creator Zach Lowy described as "magnificent", racked up 12 goals and ten assists in 47 first-team appearances, equating to a goal involvement every 2.13 games on average.
In contrast, the Hale End graduate has only scored 19 goals and provided 17 assists in all 150 senior appearances he has made across his career.
Now, he has obviously been limited for game time in recent seasons, but that is just another sign that Arteta does not trust him enough and another reason he should be moved on.
Arteta hit gold on Arsenal star who's worth more than Calafiori & Zubimendi
He’s been an excellent addition for the Gunners since his arrival.
ByEthan LambJul 5, 2024
Ultimately, Nelson has shown glimpses of his ability as a player, but he's never been able to put together a campaign like Zhegrova did last season. Therefore, for the money being mentioned, signing the Kosovan star seems like a fantastic idea.