How to solve a problem like Higuain
I saw a funny tweet the other day, it went something like this ‘’according to local reports, Gonzalo Higuain has undergone too many medical tests at Arsenal, and has now become a qualified doctor’’, I assure you that reading that as a tweet was a lot funnier than me typing it, but I had to share my amusement with you. It perfectly sums up Arsenal’s Twitter right now, because that’s the thing with Arsenal rumours and more specifically striker rumours at the moment. We have to find the comedy in them or otherwise we’d all be consumed by our desperation for a striker to sign. Higuain was first linked with us back in 2013 and apparently after much dithering by Wenger/the board, he joined Napoli for a reported fee of 40m Euros. Now three years ago that was a big transfer, today that is relatively normal, a genuine world class striker will cost you a minimum of 60m Euros these days and the pool of world class strikers is getting ever smaller.
We all know the story, Arsenal were close to securing Higuain, a fee and personal terms were agreed and it just needed the final touches applying to the deal. Then Arsenes dithering occurred because he had his head turned by the possibility of signing Luis Suarez. I mean who wouldn’t be tempted by that; Luis Suarez was the striker of the moment, and it was a chance to show a serious statement of intent. I’ve long maintained that had we got Suarez we would have won the league twice in the last three seasons – such is the talent he is. So we pursued Suarez, Higuain most likely got offended and went to Napoli. Suarez ultimately rejected us and we were left with no-one, like the teenager that had a good girl, only to flirt with a much hotter girl out of his league, and when his good girl found out, she left him high and dry and he ended up with no-one.
Could have been in 2013
Since that fateful decision to offer £45m plus a pound, Suarez and Higuain have stats of:
Suarez goals: 87 goals (league goals since 2013)
Higuain goals: 71 goals (league goals since 2013)
Suarez assists: 16 assists (last season only)
Higuain assists: 2 assists (last season only)
Giroud goals: 46 (league goals only)
Giroud assists: 6 (last season only)
I have used Giroud for comparison as he is our main striker, Alexis and Walcott have been discounted.
Imagine either of those strikers in our team, imagine Ozil feeding Higuain, okay Suarez has gone onto play for the best team in the world so we can’t really suggest playing for us would top that, but just imagine we had pulled that deal off. Fair to say we might be better than 3rd favoirites for the Premier League in the TonyBet English Premier League Betting Odds. Giroud has performed admirably in the same period, we know he would never play for Barcelona, but would Napoli accept that return from a striker? This is my major grumble with Arsenal and the Higuain deal in particular, as you read this we are again heavily linked with Higuaín (by the way I am NOT ITK) rumours are circulating that Arsene is willing to pay some big bucks to secure his man (at the second time of asking), but it all seems rather too late and somewhat anticlimactic- yes he would be a great addition to our team, but is he that much of an upgrade to Giroud these days? If we signed him, I would be happy; I would be happier if we signed Antoine Griezmann but that isn’t going to happen. For all we know, Arsenal potentially aren’t interested in Higuain again and it’s just Twitter getting ahead of themselves once again. It seems Juventus are now interested (or are they?0 and it seems they are willing to pay even bigger bucks. If Juve sell Pogba, that frees up a lot of cash to splurge on transfers, and they would have no problems in doing so if it helps them stay on top.
Is Higuian an upgrade of Giroud?
Whereas other teams spend to maintain their dominance, Arsenal are a different animal altogether. Arsene would argue the price of a set menu if it meant saving some pennies. I overheard someone saying the other day that if Arsene went to McDonalds he would order a meal, but refuse the drink that comes with it- just to be awkward. He’d be that type of customer that claims a warranty when the warranty has run out, you know, the awkward customer no-one wants to deal with. It’s quite sad when you can’t help but agree, we all know Arsene can spend; Ozil and Sanchez and now Xhaka are testament to that but spending once a window is not enough. IF Higuain is available and IF we want him, then pay what he’s worth, if you don’t want him find someone else and pay what that team want. We cannot afford to be left behind and whilst I doubt that will happen, the fans need to be on Arsene’s side going into the upcoming season.
The way he is going, the protests are only going to get worse.
See you next week.
Huge football fan, Arsenal is my team, love to talk and debate about all things Arsenal, and about football in general. Tweet me @bendraper87 for anything football related, happy to share my views with you!
No comments yet.