Stevan Jovetic was the first one to be linked to Arsenal as soon as the January transfer window shut on the midnight of 31st January 2013. Then it was Gonzalo Higuian’s turn, who had even reportedly agreed a deal with the north London side with only a haggling of transfer price between Real Madrid delaying his arrival.
The only difference between these two possible arrivals is that the former chose to join English Premier League outfit Manchester City, whereas the latter will target the Serie A title next season with Napoli.
And lo and behold, Arsenal are yet to spend this summer even though they have ‘new financial power’ via cash reserves of £70 million. Sure, there have been signs of intent from the fourth best team in Premier League last season as Wenger attempted to broker a deal with Liverpool for their enigmatic striker Luis Suarez.
The Frenchman engineered two bids for the 26-year-old but both were swiftly rejected by the Reds who insisted that their forward is not for sale. The second bid in excess of £40 million was supposed to trigger a release clause but even that failed to pan out.
But is it a case of too little too late for Arsenal? Why wait till the last week of July to submit such a monstrous bid for a player who will, in this writer’s opinion, not be sold to a Premier League rival. There were players of Suarez’s calibre, if not better, available in the market at that price.
The likes of David Villa, Mario Gomez and Alvaro Negredo immediately come to mind. And if Arsenal were willing to go that extra mile, even Edison Cavani and Radamel Falcao were up for grabs, with both having ended up in France.
They would have known that their top targets Jovetic and Higuain will not be coming to Emirates, so why not seek other players like Roberto Soldado, who has recently concluded a deal to fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspurs?
While there are players like Wayne Rooney still reportedly seeking new clubs, a move to Arsenal may not be realistic in nature. It seems that Arsenal have yet again disappointed their fans and it has indeed become only a selling club.