[Thread] Three alternative to Houssem Aouar:

While I have still not given up on us signing Houssem Aouar, I do feel the chances are that he will be staying at Lyon. He's an essential piece in Arteta's puzzle and even if we miss out on him, we have to make sure that we have got an alternative.

In this thread, I have mentioned three alternatives to Aouar, while keeping in mind that all of them are affordable and feasible. If you do appreciate the thread then like and retweet it and if you value my efforts then do head over to my profile and see if I'm worthy of a follow

Emi Buendia | A very likeable replacement for Aouar. The Argentine playmaker won many applauds for his performance in the last edition of the PL despite his side getting relegated. He has surprisingly not been sought after, however, someone else's loss can be our gain.

Houssem Aouar made 7 goal contributions in the 2019-20 Ligue 1 season while Buendia had 8 goal contributions in the 2019-20 PL season. In terms of creativity, Emi was averaging 2.3 key passes per match, while Aouar managed 1 key pass per match.

Aouar, however, outdid his Argentine counterpart with 1.8 shots on goal per match as compared to Buendia's 1.1 shots on goal per match.

Though, Emi outperformed Aouar in terms of their defensive output as he was averaging 2.3 tackles per match to Aouar's 1.1 and also had more interceptions and clearances.

Statistically, Buendia even outdoes Aouar, but clearly, the Frenchman is a better player. However, he's by no means a poor alternative. He's young, won't cost us a lot, would have a decent resale value and as the window is open till 15th for PL and Championship, we have time.

Emile Smith Rowe | One of the finest talents that have come from the academy in recent years. Amongst all of his fellow mates he might have got the least chances at Arsenal, though, he's still highly regarded by those around the club as well as the footballing world in general.

Now he might not be ready for the big stage just yet, however, during his loan move at Huddersfield, he surely proved that he deserves a chance. The best thing? He's already ours and has been a part of the setup for a while now.

Arteta seems to have put his trust in him as he hasn't sent him out on a loan, yet, and by the looks of it, he can play a part if required. Playing him in Aouar's role would allow Arsenal to not spend money in bringing an external alternative.

And will allow them to put all their eggs in a certain bucket named Thomas Partey.

Bukayo Saka | Another Hale End graduate who has already taken the footballing world by storm, although in a different position. However, when you play in Arteta's setup you don't just play a single role and the case has been the same with Saka whenever he has played.

The soon-to-be English international (Feeling so proud typing this) has shown that he has what it takes to play that No.8 role if required. When he played against WestHam in that role he showed that he has a certain skillset which Arsenal need (desperately), creativity.

His ability to play those line-breaking passes makes him a candidate if required. Once again, he's certainly not as press resistant and a well rounded player for the No.8 role as Aouar but does have certain qualities which can get the job done, to a certain extent.

I also considered the likes of Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Mesut Özil as an alternative, however, ended up not including them as the former didn't seem fit for the No.8 job while there's too much uncertainty to include the latter.

Once again, I reiterate that none of them is as good an option as Aouar but I think they can all get the job done until we can find an able replacement, which would be difficult to do in the current transfer window now.

All the data have taken from @WhoScored and the graphic from @FootballSlices. Once again, if you do appreciate the thread, do like and retweet. Ending the thread with a hope that Arsenal will sort of things in next 30 hours or so.