I am really hoping that this latest little bit of Arsenal transfer news does not mean that Arsene Wenger is perfectly happy with the current crop of Arsenal defenders, despite Gabriel having a worrying tendency towards rash and costly defensive actions and Per Mertesacker having roughly the same acceleration and turning finesse of an oil tanker.
We do have Calum Chambers as well but the former Southampton star hardly featured for the Gunners last season and cannot be seen as a consistent first choice centre back yet. I think he has great potential but that is not enough for a serious title challenge.
So taking all this into consideration you would have thought that Wenger would have been one of the main suitors for the services of the Germany international defender Mats Hummels when it became clear that he would be leaving Borussia Dortmund with only one year left on his contract.
The football media certainly thought so as there were lots of Arsenal transfer rumours linking us with the classy and quality German before it was revealed that he would sign for Bayern Munich. Now Hummels himself has lifted the lid on tjhe transfer saga and Arsenal fans will have som,e serious questions for the boss after he declared in an Evening Standard report that Arsenal did not even try to sign him.
He said, “I don’t have to beat about the bush, and pretend they [Arsenal] wanted me.
“There was no offer. The same applies for Spain, there was always contact but no option right now. That’s why I now have made the fundamental decision to continue my career in Germany.”
What is worse is that Hummels sounds like he was keen on a move to the Premier League and in a Daily Mail report he hinted that he would have signed for Man United if they had just qualified for the Champions League.
He said, ‘Fundamentally, England, Spain and Germany were the relevant leagues I could see myself playing football in.
‘But at this stage there just was not that one English club where the overall package was fitting.
‘The overall package means: a club which fascinates me; a club I have always wanted to join, and where the sporting constellation is right, and which of course plays Champions League football next season. And because of the latter one club was ruled out, and you can envision which club that was.’
It sounds to me as though Arsenal could have got him if we tried and although we don’t know the exact transfer fee that Bayern paid it is rumoured to be less than £30 million, so what on earth was our manager thinking?
Bob.