The chase for Nuri Sahin is finally over.
Liverpool have emerged victorious in the so-called ‘battle’ to sign the Real Madrid midfielder.
Arsenal, yet again, have missed out on a big international player.
Good.
If you look at the way the story has developed, it appears we didn’t ‘miss out’ on anything at all. What appears to have happened is that just for once, we did exactly the right thing and withdrew from negotiations.
If the reports are correct, Sahin was on 120k-per-week to warm the bench at Real Madrid. That’s almost the amount we offered to Robin van Persie to stay with us.
Is Sahin in the same league as Van Persie? I think not.
But it gets ‘worse’.
On top of 120k-a-week, we were supposedly going to pay a loan fee, somewhere around £2-3 million. That takes the deal, with wages, to around £8-10 million. And the question no one is asking is: for what?
The only answer is – in order to get a player we’d then have to hand back at the end of next June. The stumbling block to the deal seems to have been the option to make the loan permanent. Sahin was clear he didn’t want this. Real were clear they didn’t want this. And it seems, in the end, we didn’t want to go forward without this option.
In withdrawing from negotiations, Arsene Wenger has done what every fan for the past two years has been begging him to do.
The criticism has been that we spend time and money nurturing talent and then letting them go to our main rivals.
Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri, Cesc Febregas have all been used as sticks to beat Wenger with. Arsenal – feeder club to the big boys. The Sahin deal was exactly more of the same.
We’d have spent time and money nurturing a talent only for that talent to leave at the end of the year. You can almost hear the whinging now. And for once, we said
‘no’. Most excellent.
Well done Arsene.
Let’s invest the time and let’s spend the money on developing a player who wants to be with us and who wants to wear the Arsenal shirt for many years to come.
Visit and Join our Facebook page, click HERE to do so.
Gunnersphere is currently looking for new writers to join the squad. Contact via twitter or at Gunnersphere@snack-media.com for further details.
Very much on point. My sentiments exactly. Why shld we have to pay that much to take a player on loan. I think Wenger learnt that lesson well, hence also the sale of RVP and Song. Lesson being that, if ur mind is elsewhere u have no business wearing the Arsenal jersey.
Excellent post……keep on hearing from other fans that we are “not even big enough to get Sahin, and even Liverpool are overtaking us” but what Liverpool has done with this transfer is plain stupidity……whatever happens they are screwed. If he has a fantastic season Real will not sell him and he will want to go back to fight for his place, and if he gets injured or flops they have basically paid 10m for a flop for 1 season which is insane why not put that money to a player they could keep. But whatever sells the papers eh?!!
you have to ask yourself why did he choose Liverpool over Arsenal. Answer Mr Wenger and the Arsenal Board that why.
how do you know he CHOSE liverpool? didn’t you read the article?
It’s refreshing to see that you read entire article. In way ur correct, Sahin “choose” Liverpool “over” Arsenal AFTER WE PULLED OUT which left him with which option….wait for it……… You got it ace!
If we buy a new midfielder in cabaye or … Who will be benched if wilshere comes back, wilshere artera cazorla start. Bench rosicky,diaby, thats seems enough and then we have ramsey frimpong coquelin to fill in for injuries. We need a backup striker and a utility defender on either one of the flanks
Wilshere could also contribute from a wider position
…and AOC plays centrally as well…
Jack won’t be 90/100% till xmas at the optimistic earliest January or later at the more realistic. Anyone truly thinking sooner is in for severe disappointment. Wenger is NOT going to rush him (and there’s NO need to imo). Why fugg up the future just for instant gratification
actually we where favourites and liverpool didnt beat us to his signing.we need a defensive minded midfielder not sahin.plus,he is not even tested in the premier league and he played just eight games for madrid.10mil well saved i say.spend it some where else arsene!!
We don’t need Sahin.
Other sources say that he was on £45k/week (more likely, since he joined Real as a hot young prospect, not as a Ronaldo), and Sahin himself was reported to have said that Xabi Alonso urged him to move to Liverpool. Also, despite his earlier comments that he didn’t quite care, Mourinho reportedly wanted Sahin to choose the Reds.
Another important factor in the negotiations was definitely the fee, and Liverpool are said to have paid £5m, which is an extortionate amount for loaning a bench-warmer. It is also said that Arsenal’s position was weakened by our demand for a buy-out clause. I haven’t heard anything about a buy-out clause in relation to Sahin’s Liverpool deal – perhaps that was the main problem, and not his wages or the fees.
Anyway, while he would have made a great addition a year ago, he was hardly our primary target, more like a diversion. If with our negotiations we only managed to push Liverpool into paying more for less, so be it. Life goes on.
okeh…it gave me explanation
Liverpool’s needed him more than we do. When Gerrard injured they have no one to suply bullets for Their strikers. We don’t need him.
The explanation was that Liverpool accepted tp pay a gig chunk of the 120k per week. It source indicated further that there was a provision to buy him after the loan deal. Remember the two managers (Lpool and Madrid are friends). Truth is that he cant shine at Liverpool. But he can sure thrive at Arsenal to the admiration of Madrid, Barc and Man city.