Why Arsenal move for Chelsea’s Josh Acheampong makes sense, following Xabi Alonso comments

Arsenal and Chelsea doing business with one another used to be on just one condition: “only if we have to”.

The London rivals didn’t actually negotiate a deal until 2006, and the highly contentious cross-capital switch of Ashley Cole from north to west – with William Gallas thrown into the deal for good measure.

Even in 2015, there was an extreme reluctance from Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho to accept Arsenal’s move for Petr Cech – but it had been promised by owner Roman Abramovich.

Times have changed: Arsenal and Chelsea could do business yet again this summer

By 2018, the Gunners were struggling to qualify for the Champions League and Chelsea were faring a lot better – meaning that Olivier Giroud left N5 for SW6 with a fraction of the bad blood that came with Cesc Fabregas’ move, via Barcelona, of course.

David Luiz in the opposite direction wasn’t seen as strengthening a rival either, followed by Willian on a free from the Blues to the Gunners – while in recent seasons, it’s been Chelsea rebuilding and Arsenal taking their used parts, with manager Mikel Arteta making a signing in every year of BlueCo’s ownership.

Often it makes sense for Arsenal to shop in West London: Chelsea have a recent history of stockpiling talent, developing them in the Premier League and are willing to listen to offers for players of a certain level that would be way more expensive elsewhere.

That was certainly the case for Kai Havertz, a player who was nowhere near his prime but had already scored in a Champions League final and who certainly strengthened Arsenal in a problem position – and Noni Madueke, who had shown plenty of promise and was available for a good price and good wages, especially when compared to others on the market at the time.

Kepa Arrizabalaga, Jorginho and Raheem Sterling, meanwhile, were market opportunities – and while it’s debatable how successful each has been, they did all at least provide experience and cover for very little expense.

Simply put, Arsenal would have been quoted at least £80 million for a starting target man from most clubs, but got Havertz for around £60m: Madueke went for a similar fee to Anthony Elanga, and Chelsea spent nine figures replacing Jorginho with Enzo Fernandez.

So given that, yet again, Chelsea are looking at trimming a 41-man squad, it makes sense for Arsenal to do their rivals another favour.

There are contenders – but Josh Acheampong could be Arsenal’s best bet to buy from Chelsea

This is Chelsea, and only a handful of their squad – not even including all their new signings, hilariously – are untouchable.

Arsenal need a left-winger (as is well broadcast) and cover on the right side of defence, while they would likely be open to opportunities across the pitch: it wouldn’t exactly be a shock for Arteta to rekindle a desire to revive Mykhailo Mudryk’s career, there was historic interest in Jamie Gittens, while Nicolas Jackson feels like a very Arsenal signing all over.

Really though, the opportunities lie at the back, following new manager Xabi Alonso’s comments that his collection of nine centre-backs needs reducing to “four or five”.

In terms of those who can replace either William Saliba or Jurrien Timber, Malo Gusto is valued at £75m amid interest from Manchester City; Wesley Fofana has had his injury problems; Trevoh Chalobah looks to be leaving for Como; and either the jury is still out or we haven’t seen enough of Tosin Adarabioyo, Mamadou Sarr and Aaron Anselmino; Reece James, meanwhile, is as unsellable as you get.

Which leaves Josh Acheampong, who is still just 20, able to cover both right-back and centre-back, and would fit the bill technically and tactically of what Arteta demands from a player in that area of the pitch.

The BBC noted in June that the defender really is viewed within the “untouchable” bracket at the club, and that Arsenal were among a throng of English clubs interested in the England youth international – but with the transfer window approaching the endgame, the move makes a lot of sense for all involved.

Chelsea need to offload before the window ends, having spent big again, and though pure profit sales perhaps aren’t as golden as they once were for the Blues, they could collect a good fee for a player who doesn’t have a clear future – and who reportedly wants to leave the club to develop elsewhere.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have a very clear hierarchy with Timber and Saliba as the established first-choice options in their respective positions, but it makes sense to bring in someone who could potentially challenge either within three years, while adding quality in depth now.

FourFourTwo understands that rather like Gusto, Tino Livramento is valued at around £75m, too: so could spending slightly less on Acheampong could be looked back upon as sensible business in five years’ time with inflation?