So how did we get here?

At the end of the 2012/2013 season Arsenal claimed a 17th straight place in the champions league after snatching a 1-0 win over Newcastle on the final day. Soon after this, Ivan Gazidis made the fans and all the media aware of the financial power Arsenal now possess. 

In 2006, Arsenal moved from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium, and over the past 6 years Wenger has done a superb job to keep us in the champions league, keep us competing for trophies, whilst having limited cash to spend. This is the first summer in a while that Arsenal have big money to spend. Estimates suggest that we have the most ‘cash in hand’ available out of all the clubs in the league, and possibly in Europe. After removing 27 players from the squad list, including the likes of Gervinho,Chamakh and DJourou, many fans are wondering why Wenger hasn’t replaced the gaps left in the squad.

I am going to focus on a few key deals that have ‘gone wrong’ or ‘not gone through’ so far this summer.

1. Gonzalo Higuain

Arsenal were linked with Higuain extremely early on in the transfer window. Despite many rumours and reports, it appears as if Arsenal never actually submitted a bid for Higuain, but agreed terms with the player and the player was keen on coming. It is suggested that we had made Suarez our prime target and were holding out on a deal for him, which explains why we did not sign Higuain. We were hoping thatHiguain would remain available to fall back on if Suarez did not materialize, but when Madrid dramatically increased his price from around £22m to over £30m, Arsenal were understandably shocked, and Napoli pounced to secure his services.

2. Lars Bender

Not many fans know that early on in the window we made a bid of just under £20m to bayer Leverkusen for midfielder lars bender. Arsenal havebeen crying out for a powerful midfielder and bender would have fit themould perfectly. Unfortunately, Leverkusen said he was not for sale at any price, but it showed Arsenal have initiative in the market to try and chase big players.

3. Luiz Gustavo

When Gustavo announced that he was considering his future at Bayern Munich, Arsenal were immediately interested. It appears Wenger would have been keen on the player, but was not prepared to make him Arsenals highest paid player at the club, and spend £18m, which is what was being demanded by Bayern. The midfielder signed a 5 year deal with German club Wolfsburg for a reported £18m at around £130k per week. Despite Gustavo having clear talent, it is questionable whether he is worth 130k per week? However, the fact that Arsenal has saved around £470k per week in wages, surely they can afford to put players on big wages?

4. Luis Suarez

One of the biggest transfer sagas of the summer. Suarez was our prime target it appears all summer and all summer long the bookies have been changing their odds on him to leave or stay. Arsenal shocked the transfer market when they launched an audacious and controversial £40 million + £1 bid for the striker. It is believed that Arsenals and Suarez’s understanding was that this would trigger a clause in Suarez contract allowing him to leave, and Suarez believes he was told by Liverpool he could leave if they failed to qualify for the champions league. Liverpoolwere adamant that this was not true, and stood firm, insisting Suarez was not for sale. How much blame can be placed on Arsenal for this supposed failed transfer (as it now appears Suarez is likely to stay at Liverpool) it questionable. The specific bid we made was not cheeky or ‘classless’ (as Brendan Rodgers described it), it was made purposely as we felt it would trigger something in Suarez’s contract. It is clear now that something has gone wrong with the deal, either through Suarez’s agent or the club, nobody knows. Liverpool stood firm and have appeared to claim victory over player power, something Arsenal were unable to do, with the likes of RVP.

Despite it being a frustrating summer, you cannot argue that Arsenal have not TRIED to spend big, they have TRIED. Yes the signings have not come off, but big bids for Luis Suarez and Lars Bender, as well as firm interest still in Wayne Rooney, mean that Arsenal are likely to be extremely active in the last 15 days of the transfer window.

The Suarez Debacle - An Essay

We are at a point now where the needs of the club must be put first and foremost in every single decision we make. We have been stationary for a substantial period of restructure and rebuilding which has only been extenuated by the influx of investment in the English game particularly, therefore, as many have already said, THIS is the summer where Arsenal need to change their transfer policy. In pursuing targets such as Luis Suarez and (allegedly) Wayne Rooney, what the club has done is set a new precedent for the quality of players that they are trying to bring in, and this is exceptionally exciting for their fans who have spent many years watching others do exactly the same. That is why in particular the potential purchase of Luis Suarez is well supported amongst Arsenal fans, although it is still highly controversial, it signals new levels of ruthlessness (but I would argue, not classlessness) in order to gain a player who will significantly improve our squad. The saga surrounding Suarez draws many parallels with what has happened to Arsenal themselves in the past, most strikingly the high profile transfer of Robin van Persie to Manchester United this time last year. While some will claim that Suarez has shown significantly less loyalty than van Persie did last summer, as a fan on the Arsenal (and therefore, losing) side of that transfer I beg to differ. By the time that he eventually left the club, van Persie had spent eight years contracted to Arsenal, joining as a 21 year old in 2004, and during that time the club stood by him through a number of injury-plagued seasons. Undoubtably, both Arsenal and Arsene Wenger contributed incredible amounts to the player's phenomenal development which ultimately saw him become (for me at least) THE premier striker in European football. Now, when you look at the facts, it seems entirely logical that van Persie wanted to leave the Emirates when he did, I am not going to try and deny that, what I am going to try to explain is why I feel it is wrong to place Suarez in an entirely different category. Obviously, when van Persie decided that his time with Arsenal was coming to an end, it was at a point in his career where progress was essential and, rightly or wrongly, he felt that the club were simply not going to take him to that next step. A year on, and if I remove my emotional response entirely from the equation, he seems justified. Manchester United once again ended the season as (comfortable) champions of England, and the player picked up the medal that I don't think anyone can argue he truly deserved. Of course, anyone with a passing interest in football knows all this already, so why have I included it? In short, it is pretext for what I am about to say about Luis Suarez's own transfer saga. 

Now, let me start off this part of the piece by stating that I truly do respect Liverpool football club as exactly that, a fantastic and historic football club. People who know me will probably laugh at that; I have openly voiced my dislike of the club many times and mocked them for everything from their recent managers and transfer acquisitions to the seeming inability of (a very small proportion) of their fanbase to escape the shackles of the club's prestigious past. I do not deny that this is the case, however I completely understand why the past is such an important part of the club still. My point being, despite what I am about to go on to say, I do honestly respect Liverpool FC and everything that they are battling with and trying to achieve at this point in time. Nonetheless, I see Suarez as being in a similar position to that of van Persie twelve months ago. As an Arsenal fan, it pains me to say this, but our captain had outgrown the club by the time he left, in the same way that after three years at Liverpool, it is clear that Suarez needs a challenge of a higher calibre. Just like van Persie needed to be challenging for the Premier League title, something that we feasibly just could not give him, Suarez needs to be playing amongst Europe's elite, and Liverpool are certainly nowhere near that position at this point in time. As far as 'loyalty' goes, I must say that I have lost a lot of faith in it playing any sort of part in a player's decision making process these past few years. In fact, this is not even really that new a problem. Arsenal have notoriously been on the wrong end of what I think I am right to call 'player power' for much of the last decade, with players like Patrick Vieira, Aleksander Hleb, Mathieu Flamini, Samir Nasri, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy, Cesc Fabregas and of course even Theirry Henry forcing moves away from the club in recent times. Therefore I think their fans are possibly in one of the best positions to observe 'loyalty' (or a lack thereof) within the game. Yes, the Liverpool fans have stood by Luis Suarez through some, frankly ridiculous, tough times at the club, and I am in no doubt that they are owed at least some form of respect from the player as a result, but the notion that this is a disgusting act of betrayal when compared to Robin van Persie is frankly ludicrous. The infamous 'message to the fans' was a metaphorical kick to the groin of every single Arsenal fan out there, and whilst Suarez's comments last night are clearly different in that they actually accuse Liverpool of acting in bad faith, both are and were completely disrespectful to both the club in question and the fans themselves. Both need/needed a way out for their own personal gain, and I completely disagree with the sentiment that van Persie is somehow vindicated whereas Suarez is simply a conniving, unscrupulous cheat with Liverpool the innocent victims. 

Anyway, if he moves, it matters not whether he 'betrayed' his former club, and I now want to address those who are disgusted by the thought of the player playing for anyone, let alone Arsenal, and cannot fathom why the club are so desperate to see this deal through. As I alluded to at the start of this essay (I suppose that I have to label it such now) this is probably one of the most momentous summers seen in the club's history and therefore it is finally time to look at incoming transfers from a somewhat different perspective. Whereas, during the past eight years, in which the club has famously won no trophies and moved from Highbury into a stadium that is entirely self-funded, it was understandably necessary to keep spending to an absolute minimum, the situation has now changed dramatically. Arsenal and their board take great pride in the way that the club is run (despite aggravating a large proportion of the fanbase with their actions) but what it has allowed is the club to drag itself to an, almost, level playing field with the clubs that have benefitted from financial backing in the last decade. Therefore, finally, moves for players such as Suarez and Rooney have become a possibility whereas they would have been literally laughable in previous seasons. Just to reinforce how much of a change this has brought, we now have the potential to sign Suarez for around £45m, around three times the amount paid for our previous record transfer, Andrei Arshavin. What this means in reality is that the club is under more pressure than ever before to succeed this season and finally end the barren trophy spell that is the subject of so many delightful taunts. For this, in the current economic world of football, there is only one solution, pay excessive transfer fees in order to obtain the very best players out there. For Arsenal and their fans, signing Luis Suarez makes a lot of sense, even if it does not appear this way to fans of opposing teams. Whilst Olivier Giroud's contribution in his first season in England was by no means embarrassing, it was obviously not near the standard needed to seriously challenge for a title, and therefore it is the front line that has been most focused on this summer as the area requiring reinforcement. With players such as Falcao and Cavani well out of our reach, Rooney and Lewandowski pining for other clubs, and Gonzalo Higuain's frankly ludicrous price tag, there is a shortage of realistic targets for Arsenal to pursue, so it leaves the club needing to make the best out of a potentially bad (and badly damaging) situation. 

Most Arsenal fans will be the first to tell you that Luis Suarez is not their first choice this summer, and only a delusional supporter would tell you that the club was the player's own preferred destination, yet the two seem to find each other in the 'right place at the right time' as it were. I totally understand fans of the sport becoming baffled as to why Arsenal, the perennial 'nice guys' of the Premier League are actively attempting to sign a player who has already served bans for racial abuse and what can only be described as assault, but the answer really is fairly simple sadly, we NEED to. Be under no allusions, the fans understand what they are getting with Suarez, they are willing to overlook his past misdemeanours to an extent due to the player's undoubtable dedication to and passion for the game, but that does not mean that it all goes away. It is most certainly a worry for the vast majority that the reputation of the player now precedes him but that is not on it's own a reason not to take a gamble. Also understand that most fans are fully aware that the likelihood is that even if the deal goes ahead, we will find ourselves in a similar position in one or two years time, most likely with Real Madrid looking to buy, whether we win trophies or not. The fact of the matter is, this summer, Arsenal must look to improve the squad at every opportunity, and having a player like Suarez in the team even for a brief amount of time will certainly make the possibility of trophies far higher than without. That, in short (or not!) is why Suarez to Arsenal makes sense for the club, it's simply a matter of working for the greater good.

Elliot Gibbons

Bienvenue!

Welcome! Firstly, thank you for bothering to have a look at our site! My name is Elliot Gibbons and along with three others I am attempting to start off this blog about everything to do with Arsenal! This will be a purely opinion-based site so we won't be reporting on any news or rumours, simply telling the Arsenal story as we see it! I will do a proper introduction from myself in due course, and there will also be short bios for each of our writers, but for now I want to crack on and post our first article on here, about Luis Suarez. It's a long one so please stick with us, we'll do our best to provide you with interesting and well-reasoned opinion and please get in touch if you're interested in writing for us! Enjoy!