For quite a bit of the summer the Arsenal fans were fairly happy with the transfer business that Arsene Wenger and the people behind the scenes at Arsenal were doing. but we also expected more from the club and as it often turns out that a lot of deals were done in the final few days of the transfer window there was not too much concern.
Then the window closed without Wenger adding any more players to the Arsenal squad than his early signing of Sead Kolasinac and Alexandre Lacazette and we were all left bemused after the Gunners actually made a profit while all of our Premier League rivals spent big.
Wenger and Gazidis have tried to tell us that the transfer window went according to plan but I fail to believe that, especially after the boss admitted that he had tried and failed to get Thomas Lemar from Monaco, so why did Arsenal do nothing as the window drew to close.
According to Jose Mourinho it could be because of the transfer record shattering move of Neymar from Barcelona to PSG. As reported by Sky Sports, the Man United manager thinks that deal changed the face of the transfer market and whacked up the price of every good player, making those late deals much harder and more expensive.
Mourinho said, “I think we were very clever. We thought that something could happen that could change the market forever.
“Normally the last part of the market is less expensive, but this season, after Neymar, everything changed – and changed for the worse in terms of prices.
“I think Lukaku on August 31 would have been £150m. Matic would have been £60m or £70m. Neymar changed everything.
“If the biggest transfer in history had still been Paul Pogba, I think Philippe Coutinho would now be in Barcelona at £101m.
“People look at the £200m figure now. Now the players of £20m became £40m, the players of £40m became £60m and everything changed.
“Lukaku and Matic, now, would have cost us £200m in total. But because we did it in the first part of the summer, it was much less. I think we did well in financial terms and well in preparation terms, getting them before the season started. That is not crucial but it is important.”
Is this why Wenger and Arsenal did not secure any late signings?
Bob.