It is FA Cup weekend, also known as the weekend for us Arsenal fans, and the fact that we have no match means that the transfer speculation has increased with little else to discuss.
Thanks to a thoroughly disappointing display against Nottingham Forest, we will be enjoying a weekend of being a neutral, although I will be hoping all of our rivals actually win their matches.
I’m sure the majority of you want nothing more than to see the top six sides lose to minorities over the weekend, and give us a reason to stick the knife into our friends, but I want them all to make it as far as possible in the competition (albeit through extra time) with the hope that the added fatigue could help us in our top-four hopes.
Looking through the sources, there is little talk about Arsenal for obvious reasons, but there are a few regurgitated transfer rumours doing the rounds.
The believable ones come in the form of Malcolm from Bordeaux and Jonny Evans from West Brom. The latter we have failed to sign over the past two transfer windows supposedly, but is expected to become available for a lowly £3 Million should his side become relegated this term.
The Brazilian winger however has confirmed that he intends to leave his club come the summer, and we were as short as 1/10 (1.1) to sign the wonderkid during the January transfer window.
As much as I would like to see any of the following add to our options this summer, I find it hard to believe that we could beat our rivals for any of their signatures unless we turn our season around and qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Nabil Fekir, Timo Werner and Ousmane Dembele are all said to be lined up for bids of £45-53 Million, but the problem is that not only have our club regularly refused to pay such prices, but the three players will no doubt have a number of options next summer, and I just don’t believe that we could persuade them to come to the Emirates at present.
Could you see Arsenal signing any of the above? Who would be your first choice if you had a magic wand?
Pat J