I would agree with the assessment on Eze recently - he's looked off it the last two games in particular. However, the beauty of Eze and his versatility is that he doesn't really need to be the nailed on starter at any position to have real value on our squad. The fact he could theoretically play 25 games next year at the 10 and 20 games at LW, depending on rotation, injuries and the opponent, is extremely valuable. Frankly, I think another versatile attacker like him to replace Jesus is one of our biggest needs this summer so that we don't have to always roll out a sub-standard combination of profiles like Martinelli-Gyokeres-Madueke. If we had a guy like Alvarez or Yildiz who you could mix and match with those profiles when rotating, I think a lot of the lack of fluidity we are seeing on the attacking end without our #1 options would disappear. Replacing Jesus with a player who can actually compete for starting roles and upgrading either Trossard or Martinelli should be our biggest focus this summer.
And before anyone says that we won't be able to attract the level of talent of an Alvarez to replace Jesus, I would counter with the fact that PSG is looking to do the exact same thing and add Alvarez to their stable of attackers. You could definitely make the argument he wouldn't start in their top 3 if everyone is healthy. In modern football, clubs and players alike are learning quickly that the fixture demands of an elite club mean that you need to be 2 to (sometimes) 3 deep in every position and I think that will only be exacerbated this upcoming season with the World Cup this summer.
Alvarez/Yildiz for Jesus and Barcola/Gordon/Diomande for Martinelli would be a hell of an overhaul of our attack. Then we make it an open competition each week with a meritocracy deciding who will be starting. Assuming we get the top options for this exercise:
LW Options: Barcola, Trossard, Eze, Alvarez
ST Options: Gyokeres, Alvarez, Havertz, Merino
RW Options: Saka, Dowman, Madueke, Alvarez
Occasional Second ST options: Alvarez, Havertz, Eze
That team is an absolute buzzsaw combined with our midfield and defense. And unfortunately, there will be injuries and that attack can absorb the majority of what we've seen the last two seasons.
