Flamini is boss: Arsenal won’t regret missing out on this defensive destroyer

According to The Mirror, Gareth Barry came very close to joining Arsenal when it became clear he was going to be leaving Manchester City on loan. However, when the Gunners decided to re-sign Mathieu Flamini, Barry joined Everton.

Of all of the Toffees signings Barry definitely went under the radar, there was far more excitement over the likes of James McCarthy, Romelu Lukaku and Gerard Deulofeu. However, Barry has arguably become one of Everton’s most important players and he has made a real impact on Roberto Martinez’s side.

So far this season he’s racked up a respectable Performance Score of 244 in ten matches, he’s also managed to score a goal along the way. Only Seamus Coleman and Kevin Mirallas have created more chances than Barry though and he’s weighed in with three assists. Both he and McCarthy have sat deeper and although the Irishman has been the one to get forward more often Barry has still shown his creative ability.

He’s won 40% of his tackles, which isn’t great, but he’s got a very healthy passing accuracy of 86%. Barry has missed just one game for Everton this season and that was against Manchester City because he was ineligible. Everton lost that game and it was no coincidence that their loan star was missing.

Down in London, Mathieu Flamini, another player whose arrival was underwhelming at best, has been doing very well and he’s played a key part in Arsenal’s excellent form. He too has played ten games and his passing accuracy is 6% higher than Barry’s.

Flamini is obviously more defensively minded, he’s yet to register an assist and has only created four chances but he’s only made nine tackles in comparison to Barry’s 20.

Interestingly enough I imagine that neither set of fans would trade one for the other and to be honest they both deserve a lot of credit. At the start of the season neither of them were predicted to make any headlines but both deserve them for the impacts that they’ve had at their respective clubs.