I read in the Daily Mirror yesterday that Arsene Wenger declined the chance to sign Louis Saha before he made the switch from Everton to Spurs – on a free – on winter deadline-day.
The national newspaper reported that Arsenal was offered the French striker as a cover option for Robin van Persie, but Wenger refused to sign him for a cut-price deal.
Now I’m not sure whether this is true or false, only Saha and Wenger know. But if it is the former, then I’m not at all surprised.
I do think Saha, who has netted to goals for his new club already since his move, is a good player. Granted, he does pick up quite a few injuries, but I wouldn’t say he’s garbage; he does score goals and packs a wealth of Premier League experience. I would certainly pick him over Marouane Chamakh any day at his age (33).
What I’m trying to get at here is – why didn’t Wenger just take a risk and snap up the former Everton and Man United forward for the remainder of the season?
With the exception of Robin van Persie, every other forward in our squad are shooting blanks! Now this is not to say that the Frenchman would have come in and shown our strikers how to hit the back of the net, but surely, at this stage of the season, he would have lifted some of the goal-scoring burden off RVP’s shoulders and provided us more options upfront?
What shocked me most about reading this rumour was the idea that Wenger refused to sign a highly experienced, French international on a free! This is what baffles me. Perhaps he was demanding wages we couldn’t afford, I don’t know.
But what I do know is that we are now a man/forward lighter than we were a month ago, after Andrey Arshavin was loaned back to Zenit for the season – again, another decision that bamboozles me.
In any case, I truly hope Saha, the man that Wenger was reportedly chasing and eventually turned down this January, doesn’t come back to haunt Arsene this afternoon.
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That’s why I say Wenger has lost the plot. H elives in the past by getting Henry for loan. For maybe slightly more money he could have got Saha,a proven epl scorer. What more does Wenger want
Btw the gunners maybe top of of the financial league. But football is measured in terms of trophies won.If the gunners are not successful on the pitch,sponsors could be more demanding . This could mean less money for sponsorship which reflects the status of the club.
So if Arsenal continue their slide downwards, expect less sponsorship which could impact the club’s finances. It’s vicious cycle.
As an Everton fan, I can categorically say that he is now, indeed garbage. I don’t think there were many fans who wanted to keep hold of him, so to see the back of him and Pienaar return was a great day. Yes, I can’t take away his storming debut from him, but don’t get used to it. He is lethargic and get uninterested very easily. Time will tell, but overall happy to see him go.
I always thought Saha was good but you really can’t blame Wenger for not taking a chance on a player who has been continually injured for alot of his career. We already have alot of injury prone players, we couldn’t take a gamble on another.
The last thing we need is another “glass player”. Saha cant give you more than 2 games in a row.