So, to our utter consternation, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has batted away suggestions that he wants to sign Mario Balotelli this summer.
The Daily Mail reports:
Wenger, appearing on beIN Sport’s World Cup show, was asked by Ruud Gullit if he was buying the former Manchester City striker, but responded: ‘No. No, that’s pure invention.
‘We cannot believe absolutely everything that is on internet or is in newspapers.
‘Sometimes it’s created by agents or by press who needs news. But in that case, it’s not true.’
Despite the headlines from some sources, this doesn’t mean that Arsenal aren’t interested in the player. It simply suggests that there no negotiations taking place right now.
But we are growing increasingly concerned by Wenger’s apparent indecision in the market. Arsenal desperately need to add to their forward line – to give it a bit more variety – and Balotelli seems like a fantastic option.
At a reported fee of £27 million he represents a real bargain – someone that will guarantee you 20 goals next season and add muscle and teeth to a fancy side which crumbles against sterner opposition.
Pride comes before a fall and we sometimes find Wenger a little bit too proud to admit that the wider public might have a better opinion than him in terms of some signings. How could he not like Balotelli as a player? How could he not see that the Italian offers qualities that Arsenal don’t currently have?
Down the road, Jose Mourinho knows what he wants and makes his feelings publicly known about players. But all we get from Wenger is denials and we wonder whether there is a clear game plan for signings this summer or whether Arsenal will be involved in another desperate last day scramble in the summer window.
Balotelli offers the pace, strength and the machiavellian attitude that Arsenal lacks – someone to pull the club through the sort of games (like Liverpool away) that they keep getting tonked in because they can’t mix the beautiful football with the uglier, more physical stuff that is so necessary at times.
The mind boggles – Arsenal fans: what do you think about Wenger’s transfer plans?
dogbreath
Jun 25, 2014 at 6:15 pm
very whingey, whiney tabloid standard article
eduardo
Jun 25, 2014 at 6:24 pm
why would Balotelli guarantee an extra 20 goals next season, he has never managed 20 goals in a season in his career, 14 league goals is his top mark, and 18 in all competitions, and a fair number of those goals were penalties,
so please explain where they extra 20 goals he guarantees comes from, and also to suggest an extra 20 goals would in fact would mean he would have to score that on top of what the player he replaces would score, and I’m sure you see him as replacing Giroud, who managed 22 goals last season, so Mario would need to score 42 goals to give us 20 extra.
A nonsense article
Haze
Jun 25, 2014 at 6:25 pm
Well even if i’m not a fan of AW bring on Mario Balotelli . I have this nagging feeling that the Özil affair was just a excuse to get AW a new contract . I don’t beleive this season will be different than the previous according to transfers. The only thing the board the(Crow)enke (name wrongly dispelled by purpose) is interesting of is making money and so is AW just rewarded with a new lucrative contract just by saving money for him and the others. I havn’t been on the bandwagon AW out before but now i’m leaning to jump aboard. I was a fan of Arsenal long before most of you were born. i was a fan under the barren years after the double 71. and then i had to wait for a title until 79 . after that it was another dry spell until 86. But never during this time i felt down like now. Now all there is is a chase for the precious 4th place as an excuse to bring in money to the owner and his lackeys. With that said my love for the Gunners will never end until the day i die. But to see something i love be abused by a american vulture & Company is sickening. End of harang.
Insomnia
Jun 25, 2014 at 6:30 pm
I think you need to breathe and not believe every papers story
shedzy
Jun 25, 2014 at 6:41 pm
you think you know more about which players to sign/not to sign than Arsene Wenger?
How many titles have you won?
Goonerjon
Jun 25, 2014 at 6:49 pm
Who writes this rubbish? Comparing Mourinho as a more honest man that Wenger? A manager who instructs players to get yellow cards, who hides in a laundry basket when he is banned, who intimidates referees and behaves without any class or true love of the game? Stunning rubbish…
Dlawlor
Jun 25, 2014 at 7:24 pm
Baloteli is not fit for a arsenal jersey, shocking player he is not like Suarez were it’s with the Agro.
david jenson
Jun 25, 2014 at 7:29 pm
i dont think balloteli is the right player for arsenal
he is a liability on and off the pitch and that doesnt fit with the rest of the team ,who all work as a team .hes already been sent of at the world cup .
i think he could go the way of suarez easily . is that what arsenal and puma want in their shirt.?
William
Jun 25, 2014 at 11:53 pm
If Arsene can’t tame William Gallas, do you think he can tame a wilder beast like Balo..
Once bitten twice shy.. doubt he will want to bring Balo in..
NW
Jun 26, 2014 at 1:34 am
Stop these nonsense. If u have a and day, go get some sleep or go get a drink. U don’t know all the plots he has . Earning money / saving money is part of the job of every manager.
If u go outand find a new house, it takes u very long to find one. Image buying not a house but a building to fit your whole organization. That’s what transfers are.
Hope negotiations go smoothly so transfers will come quickly.
GoonerEris
Jun 26, 2014 at 3:59 pm
I suggest you stick to what you know best to do (whatever that happens to be) and allow Wenger do his job. Who knows? Maybe Wenger prefers not to get involved with a Striker who would receive at least, 4 red cards a season. Maybe, he feels the dressing room could do without his sulking.