The Gunners famously made an audacious bid of £40,000,001 a few days ago which was immediately rejected by the Merseyside club, who are standing firm on their stance of considering offers if and only they are anywhere north of £50 million. Liverpool’s first preference is to hold on to their star striker but if that is not possible, then they at least want clubs interested in him to match their valuation.

Arsenal are known to have a huge bank balance this summer which still lays untouched. If they want, they can meet Liverpool’s asking price and complete the deal immediately. However, Wenger is a staunch supporter of not going overboard with players’ astronomical transfer fees, therefore seeing Wenger meet Liverpool’s asking price looks unlikely.

Arsenal were on their pre-season tour across Asia all this while and have only just returned home; they are now due to take part in the Emirates Cup starting next week onwards. Wenger has said that he will resume his transfer business once the tournament gets over and that he is in no hurry to make signings. He also spoke about the Suarez situation and revealed that Arsenal are not close to signing him as of now. ESPN quoted him as saying, “We are not close to signing Suarez or anybody else so there’s no reason why I should talk about it,”

“There is nothing to say (on the Suarez deal). I have been away now for two or the weeks and it’s hard to see how things are advanced because everyone is on tour at the moment and it’s very difficult to get in touch with people.”

“We are ready to do quick deals but all the transfers do not depend only on us. We are prepared to wait. It looks unlikely before the Emirates Cup (next weekend), but we still have a strong squad.”

With this statement, it looks like all Arsenal fans will have to wait longer to see that one big name signing they have been yearning for all summer. What a surprise – Gooner patience is to be tested yet again!!