Arsenal news: Declan Rice transfer concern as Gunners star ‘looks lost’ | Football | Sport

Arsenal remain under fire for their style of play following their disappointing Carabao Cup final loss to Manchester City. Mikel Arteta’s outfit on Sunday endured a 2-0 defeat at Wembley Stadium, where they were largely second best throughout the latter stages. The Gunners’ attacking shortcomings were once more exposed at a pivotal juncture of the campaign.

After the international break, Arsenal must regroup and ensure the mental impact of the setback doesn’t undermine their Premier League title bid. Arteta’s side currently hold a nine-point advantage over City in the standings, while they also face a manageable Champions League quarter-final tie against Sporting. Before their next fixture, an FA Cup quarter-final trip to Southampton, Express Sport looks at some of the big Arsenal news…

Declan Rice transfer concern

Ex-England and Tottenham midfielder Chris Waddle has raised doubts over whether Arsenal should pursue Sandro Tonali given they already have Declan Rice. The Gunners were strongly linked with a swoop for Tonali in January after Mikel Merino sustained an injury, but Newcastle were unwilling to part with one of their prized assets.

Yet both Arsenal and Manchester United remain linked to the Magpies midfielder, who is valued at approximately £100million. Despite the Italian’s undeniable talent, however, Waddle reckons Arsenal don’t require the player, considering how comparable he is in style to Rice.

Waddle told FootballTransfers: “They’ve got Declan Rice and they’ve got Martin Zubimendi, who’s a very good player. But Arsenal seem to collect players. Tonali has had a couple of great seasons, he’s got better this season. He’s a good age and I’m not surprised there’s a lot of clubs interested in him.

“He’s a very economical player, he’s a little bit like Declan Rice, let’s be honest, he’s very consistent with his pass ratio, he’s got a good shot and he’s got a good engine.

“In my mind, he’s a very similar player to Declan Rice, though. Do Arsenal really need another player like that? I know squads strengthen every year and that’s how football moves on.”

Manchester United icon Paul Scholes has blamed Arsenal’s style of play for Bukayo Saka’s difficulties this season. Saka’s statistics this campaign have markedly declined compared to last term, with the England winger registering just nine goal contributions across all competitions thus far.

He was again ineffective in the recent Carabao Cup final loss, which pundit Scholes attributes to Arsenal’s inability to construct attacks properly, resulting in Saka scarcely receiving the ball in threatening positions.

Scholes commented on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast: “Their better players just weren’t performing. You talk about these forward players not performing but you have to look at your midfield players and your centre-halves, they couldn’t get the ball to them.

“Did you see the bit where Bernardo Silva sprinted out to try to stop it going for a corner? Even when you’re playing against it, you don’t want to give it away.

“It’s almost like playing against Stoke what we did years ago, sometimes because the throw-ins were that good the manager told us to kick it out for a corner because of [Rory] Delap, because the delivery is not as good.

“What we’re saying is, I think they’ve become obsessed with it. They’ve forgotten about the other way that they can actually score goals.

“They’ve got good players. You’ve got Saka who looks lost at the minute because they can’t get the ball to him, more than anything, he’s got great ability.”