As the arrival of the transfer season continues to bring news of significant signings by various clubs around Europe like Neymar’s move to Barcelona as reported by BBC Sport, the wait for the occurrence of a similar blockbuster deal at Arsenal tipped to alter the club’s reeling fortunes continues,and with it also incessantly lingers the helpless agony among the club faithful who dearly hope for a significant result next season instead of false promise and disappointment that have become synonymous with the club since the last eight years.
With reports filtering in that the two big names associated with the Gunners this summer–Stevan Jovetic and Gonzalo Higuain–might not be coming to London after all as reported by the Daily Mail and Goal.com respectively, options for Arsenal continue to grow thinner by the day.
Jovetic, the Montenegro star who was being tracked closely by Arsene Wenger for a long time, has had his fee raised to a level which the North London club are no longer willing to meet and this has thrown the negotiations off track. Fiorentina, the Italian club which currently employs Jovetic, are unwilling to lose him to a rival club in the country but it is quite ironic as Juventus seem poised to acquire him.
Gonzalo Higuan, the Argentine and Real Madrid striker,is also on the verge of moving east to the Italian giants Juventus,and the player’s agent has already stated that it a great honor to be linked with the Old Lady who have now won two Serie A titles in a row.
Arsenal, a club that provides an opportunity to play in the Champions League year–in and year–out (they have now qualified for the tournament 16 years in a row), is no doubt a great place to play football with its passionate fans, brilliant stadium and a manager with a shrewd brain for the sport. But with the traditional unwillingness of the Gunners to spend big on the transfer market (the highest they have paid so far is rumored to be the £15–16 million to Malaga for Santi Cazorla and the presence of bigger clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea who are more likely to win a race for singing a player coveted equally, as Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn aptly says;
“The problem at Arsenal is always that they have a wage structure which is fairly high, but in terms of competing with Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea, if they are after the same player, particularly with the history of Man Utd and Chelsea of late, the player is more likely to go to one of those teams,”
Arense Wenger’s men might perennially remain contenders and nothing more and never actually win another significant trophy in the immediate future.
With the other big players in Europe like Manchester City and Real Madrid preparing to flex their muscles once the transfer window opens, Arsenal might again fail to bring top talent to the Emirates and the Arsenal faithful might again be left to rue the fact that the club never signs players with a proven record on the big stage but rather acquires those who are budding into stars and do not yet have enough in them to drive the club to glory. And the worst part of it is that such players are,more often than not, swooped up and away to greener pastures as soon as they exhibit their true potential.
Source: DSG
