Former Gunner insists Arsenal should have signed Chelsea star

Paul Merson has claimed that Arsenal should have moved to sign Danny Drinkwater instead of Chelsea on deadline day.

The Blues completed a late-ditch move to sign the England international from Leicester City for a reported £35 Million, despite interest in his signature having been known for weeks, and the player even handed in a transfer request in order to get the deal through.

Paul Merson now claims that Arsenal should have made their own attempt to sign the 27 year-old, who was a key member of Leicester’s 2015-16 Premier League title winning squad.

Merson said: “I was at the 8-2 game against Manchester United in 2011. But Sunday was worse than that. This was Wenger’s best team, and they gave up on him.

“The players look like they couldn’t have cared less. You get the sack when your players don’t look fussed. But not at Arsenal. It’s all too nice.

“Arsenal should have bid for Danny Drinkwater rather than let him go to Chelsea. At least he will fight for you. This lot just give up.

“In my day, the dressing room after a performance like that would have been a war zone. You would have had to call the police because there would have been fights everywhere.”

I’m very surprised that we haven’t brought in a single player after that demoralising defeat, especially given the fact that we allowed a first-team player to leave to join Liverpool.

Whether Danny Drinkwater would be an improvement on our starting XI I’m not sure, but his addition would certainly force Francis Coquelin to up his game or find himself offloaded within the next 12 months. We definitely need some guile and a more defensive option other than Le Coq would be welcomed.

Would Drinkwater have improved our starting line-up? Would he beef up our underperforming side?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Chelsea Drinkwater

15 Comments

  1. ..although paul may think the vision that took us from highbury to emirates stadium was to pay to see danny drinkwater – countless other fans may not share his optimism.

    1. As long as it doesnt reflect in the numbers its all good. I’m a college kid and a full time investor. I carry out an exercise everytime I want to buy a company. I wake up and imagine owning the stock in the company. Does that make me feel happy and cozy every time I think about it? If it does then the next step is to stay up slightly late and think about the all the negatives and see if I’m able to combat my mind and be comfortable. Late at night you always overthink and forsee things that will almost never happen. If the investment passes this test then I feel like I might have something. I tried this imagine arsenal as a business. It felt better than any other investment I’ve ever made. This is a great business. You can whip your customers and they will still pay let alone pay more and more for it. They are fanatics, some would even argue that they would kill for the club. Its amazing. An evergreen industry. So if you really want to make a difference you should consider boycotting games. And hitting them where it hurts.

  2. Merson’s comments were spot on. That was Wenger’s best team, but the players gave up on him and Wenger (also Kroenke and the other executives) didn’t get sacked because it’s all too nice in Arsenal.

    Merson thinks it is very important to get a player that will fight for Arsenal, because the current players just gave up. I agree with him, but I don’t think Drinkwater would be suitable for Arsenal.

    The players can have excellent technical and physical attributes, but all will be useless if they don’t want to fight for Arsenal. If many seats are empty in Arsenal’s next matches, I am sure Arsenal will take drastic movements to save their season and money.

  3. Don’t know about drinkwater but we do need a couple of good midfielders. I am a relatively new fan but this is the weakest set of midfielders I have seen at Arsenal.
    Without a strong midfield it will be really tough for us.

  4. Players won’t fix this problem. New Ines will just join the old in becoming mediocre once they have been trained by Wenger. The odd one that doesn’t will just leave.

  5. I feel no matter who we buy, this current Wenger won’t make things happen.

    We have a decent team not great but I feel another manager will play to players strength and drop players that are not performing.

  6. Former gunners this, former gunners that. .. I and tired of these hopeless so called legends picking on arsenal in the media. They seize every opportunity to tear us apart mainly out of frustration and their exclusion in the club affairs. I am fed up. Other club legend scout and tap up players for their teams. Ours criticize for them to be noticed. How many of them pass advice absent the media? As far as I am concerned, they are all attention seekers mainly for personal gratification.

    1. i agree – i remember merson playing for arsenal (for me he ain’t a legend) more an advocate of a drinking culture it was evident in those days any talent he had stayed with what he did on (not off) the field.

  7. The media feast on arsenal because the management, manager, fans and players give them eternal platform to make a living. Look at the criticism on ozil by fans and club legend, what do we want the young man to do for arsenal? Kill himself? ozil came and the long awaited trophies followed. fans should remember that. let us appreciate our own. if any body doubt ozil contribution to the team, let that person watch him play for Germany. you will notice that the problem is with our tactics and not the players. believe me, if a modern manager manage this crop of arsenal players, we can compete actively for the title this season. Wenger lack the X Factor to push this squad into a winning team. Everyday Paul merson pop up with his trash and the fans piss on themselves. How many champions league did he win for arsenal ? Same goes for Ian Wright and co.

  8. Many inc me criticise Ramsey however he play well for wales. So is he not good enough, is the manager not good enough or is he played out of position

  9. Hahahahaha everyone saying we don’t need Drinkwater is laughable, Xhaka has misplaced 4 simple passes in 3 games costing us 4 goals? Ramsey thinks he’s a centre forward. Drinkwater would be our star midfielder in this current crop!!

    1. thank you my good friend. drinkwater is an excellent midfielder. remember him and kante bossing the prem!. Conte I think is a genius. honestly I do

  10. I do not think Drinkwater is anyway better than Coquelin, who has been used less due to the arrival of Xhaka, who i have said is not a defensive midfielder, but operates better with a DM beside him. Coquelin has been asked by wenger to become more creative and move forward more which has spoilt Coquelins game(especially in the absence of Cazorla).

    Elneny may not be a tackler, but reads the play and intercepts, he is also far more discipline than Ramsay in that role. I would, therefore, give Elneny and Coquelin more chances to develop a partnership in the middle of the park

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