Within a week and a half, Arsenal’s interest in Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy has seen itself jump from urban legend to another name in the list of our recent transfer failures, despite the ‘failure’ in question not really making itself official. In some ways, it’s understandable to relate to the premature frustration, low expectations being the key to happiness and all that. It’s still early days, but even I can’t shake of the unwanted nostalgia of the Luis Suàrez fiasco three years ago.
Of course, the player in question is hardly a Luis Suàrez, which simply adds to the debate. There are significant elements of risks to his potential purchase. After all, the system he bloomed in at Leicester was (and is) markedly different than ours, and it’s hard to see Wenger abandoning his philosophy for one player. His general ‘one-season wonder’ness also provides cause for concern that we might be putting all our eggs in a basket not that reliable. Indeed, if we buy him, I feel there’s the very real chance he won’t outscore Olivier Giroud – and wasn’t getting a Giroud upgrade the very point of hunting for a striker in the first place?
Even so, I’d like him at Arsenal. The reason I want him, however, is not because I feel he’s the man who would raise the stakes or because he’s an undoubted world class striker. He’s probably not. The reason I’d want him is because, as of this moment, he’s the best forward available on the market.
Let’s face it, we would all prefer a Gonzalo Higuain or maybe even an Alvaro Morata to Vardy, but their unbelievable release clauses almost make it a non-starter. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is Manchester bound, so is Aubameyang, and it seems we have run out of options.
I’m basing Arsenal’s interest in Jamie Vardy on the premise that Arsène Wenger hunted for better options, but failed. It’s a reasonable assumption, because it would frankly be crazy to place forwards like Romelu Lukaku, Edinson Cavani, Karim Benzema or Antoine Griezmann below Vardy. I trust (or rather, I hope) Wenger has had Plan’s A, B and C failed for whatever reasons, and thus settled for Vardy. In a way, it was refreshing to see a ‘panic buy’ (so to speak) being acted on so early, rather than on transfer deadline day.
What isn’t refreshing is to see Vardy delaying and possibly calling the deal off. When it felt like things were moving in the right direction rapidly and Vardy would put pen to paper to seal a mind-boggingly swift deal, Vardy hesitated. It may be because of his agents, counting on his stock to rise after the EUROs. It may be because of Roy Hodsgon, telling Vardy to focus on England at this point in time (although that sounds a bit far-fetched). Perhaps it’s Vardy himself having second doubts on leaving Leicester, but after hearing what Giroud recently said of Vardy, it again seems unlikely.
We may never know the real reason for this stall, but in any way it’s a damning indictment on the credibility of the club at the moment. In some ways, it’s proof that players don’t look at Arsenal like the opportunity of a lifetime. Remember what a source close to Alex Song said of Barcelona?
“Barcelona is a once-in-a-lifetime thing; you have to jump on that train when it comes.”
When truly top clubs enter the market, there are hardly any prolonged negotiations because the player himself is so eager for the move. With Arsenal, it’s hard to envisage them being held in similar standards.
Besides being a bit embarrassing, playing the waiting game also significantly weakens our negotiating power. If Vardy’s agents think Arsenal are looking at him as a kind of last resort, they can extract as much money and time from the deal as possible. They can make Arsenal wait for them, sap the upper hand from the negotiations and anyone who has reasonable enough knowledge on bargaining would tell you that’s not a healthy position to be in.
As of right now (with the aforementioned assumption that Jamie Vardy is our last possible target), we have two options. We can choose to roll the dice and play along with Vardy’s waiting game, hoping things will work themselves out. Or, we can build one or two smokescreens to try and force Vardy’s hand. The second option is obviously something the more prideful with pick – a show of strength that Arsenal is not a club who will bow down to one man. In another sense, however, this could also cement our bargaining power whilst bidding for other players.
If Vardy is the only striker we can get, it’s logical that Arsenal should do everything in their power to get him. If that means pretending to be interested in other strikers and gain a psychological upper hand in proceedings, so be it. Even if we lost the mind game, it’s not like we’re missing out on this generation’s Lionel Messi.
Probably.
P.S. Call it French bias, but I feel like we’re missing a tick in ignoring Moussa Sissoko. The guy is quite obviously desperate to join us (and has been for a while), but on paper, he could be a good signing. He’s strong, fast, versatile and would be good cover for when five of our midfielders banjax themselves at the same time 🙂
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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