I don’t know about the rest of you Arsenal fans, but I am still scratching my head trying to figure out just what the hell Arsene Wenger was thinking by only completing the one bargain basement transfer deal on the January window, despite the club being sat on a mountain of cash and having our best chance of the Premier League title in a decade put at risk by losing a number of key players to injury.
Mohamed Elneny looked a good signing on his debut and hopefully he will continue to prove a good addition for the Gunners, but he is not the tough tackling defensive midfielder that many of us thought the boss might bring in to compete with and cover for Francis Coquelin.
One player who is and who has been the subject of many Arsenal transfer rumours for the last two years is the Sporting Lisbon and Portugal star William Carvalho. The chances of Arsenal signing him in the summer, however, have just taken a severe blow, with The Mirror reporting that the 23-year old has just signed a new contract with his current club and the new deal has also seen his release clause rise from around £29 million to around £35 million.
If Wenger was not going to sign Carvalho at the lower price in January when Coquelin was in the treatment room and Arsenal were desperate for more steel in midfield, what are the chances of us paying more for him in the summer?