Arsenal are forever being linked with a number of players, but I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to see us strongly linked with those who spent large amounts of time on the sidelines.
We are currently being linked with possible moves to sign Barcelona stars Ousmane Dembele and Samuel Umtiti in the coming window, with both having struggled to earn regular runs in their current first-teams largely down to injuries.
The former was a big-money signing from Borussia Dortmund, with the Catalan club believed to have paid an initial £96.8 Million for his signature, a fee that could have risen to as much as £135.5 Million including bonuses, but he has only managed to start in 35 matches in three seasons with the club.
Umtiti has featured more heavily for his side in comparison, but has only featured in 70 La Liga appearances over the last four seasons predominantly missing out because of fitness and injuries.
Arsenal have suffered enough over the years with injuries to our key players, with the likes of Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla, Hector Bellerin, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez just a few to mention in recent years who regularly were sidelined.
I really hope that the likes of Umtiti and Dembele are simply linked with our club because Arsenal headlines attract the most attention, and not that we are looking to take risks on players who will more likely than not end up cashing a pay-check from the stands.
New manager Mikel Arteta himself suffered with a number of injuries himself while at the club, and will hopefully know all-too-well how difficult it can be to return to full fitness after so many setbacks, and will hopefully not take such risks with our transfer budget.
Do players maximum potential have to be considered when eyeing a potentially injury-prone player? Do both of the above have enough exceptional talent to be considered for moves even if they could only play 50% of matches?
Patrick
