Many of our rivals have already done some lucrative deals. Manchester City have completed the signing of Fernando, Liverpool have had a mini raid on Southampton by signing Adam Lallana and Ricki Lambert, Chelsea have signed former Arsenal favourite Cesc Fabregas along with Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa and not forgetting Louis Van Gaal’s Manchester United have added Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera. So what of Arsenal? many rumours have been circulating ever since we lifted the FA Cup back in May. Arsene Wenger appears to have many Irons in the fire, he did say he does not expect any signings to be completed before the World Cup so i guess it is once more playing the waiting game during a Summer transfer window.
One name that seems to have gone cold is one Mario Balotelli, the AC Milan Striker had a poor showing at the World Cup along with most of his Italian compatriots and any deal seems to have stalled. This morning in The Independent AC Milan president and all round crook Silvio Berlusconi has suggested that any deal for the £28 Million rated forward has stalled due to his bad form.
The deal seemed set in stone just weeks ago when Balotelli issued various “come and get me” pleas through numerous media sources so what is the real reason this has hit the proverbial brick wall?
An unnamed source that is allegedly a connection of Talksport’s Adrian Durham has suggested that we had only bid £10 million for Mario due to his poor showing at the World Cup where he looked lethargic at best, then I remembered how did I first here that Arsenal were “interested” in the former Manchester City striker. It was from new Arsenal sponsor Puma. Puma had issued many statements in the media on how they would even contribute an unspecified amount to bring Balotelli to Arsenal. It looks like Puma have made all the running almost trying to push Arsenal in one defining direction. As any Arsenal fan knows Arsene Wenger will never be dictated to he is too wise to give into any outside pressure and has a valuation in mind for every player and does not budge.
If this deal was ever on the cards it looks dead in the water as Wenger appears to have altered his focus to Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez who appears available at the same price that Milan value stroppy Mario at. Thinking logically and if I was a betting man I would suggest putting your money on the Chilean rolling up at the Emirates instead of the Mad Mohawked Italian they call Mario.
Thanks for Reading
Goonerscribe