Former Premier League striker Stan Collymore has launched a scathing criticism of Arsenal’s transfer approach following their reported £40m bid for Wilfried Zaha.
Making his comments in The Sunday People (via The Daily Express), Collymore branded The Gunners’ business so far as ‘daft’, ‘embarrassing’ and ‘foolish’ – with the ex-Liverpool striker not holding back – as Arsenal continue in their pursuit of transfer targets with just the signing of teenager Gabriel Martinelli to show for their efforts this summer.
He then continued to really twist the knife by comparing Arsenal’s dealings to that of arch-rivals Spurs – albeit rather needlessly – as if to demonstrate a team with more money and making more expensive signings is a mark of better negotiating, on the back of Tottenham securing a club-record transfer for midfielder Tanguy Ndombele.
It’s a bit of a cheap shot by Collymore, who has never been in a position as a manager to enter transfer negotiations – and whose most notable career achievement post-football to date remains appearing alongside Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct 2.
Without wishing to totally devalue his comments on that basis (as tempting as it is), the apparent lack of context attributed to the spurious comparison between the two London clubs (surely purely for the sake of geography) highlights a certain degree of unfairness in his claims.
For a club with Arsenal’s budget (thought be around £40m), shouldn’t having the gumption to bid that sum on one player be lauded as brave or ambitious rather than daft?
There may an air of recklessness to it, but whatever Zaha’s true value, Arsenal have identified a key target to improve their on-pitch fortunes and are bending over backwards to get it done by literally going all-in.
Does that not point towards the kind of determination people want to see, or are Arsenal just an easy target for so-called know-it-all pundits to have a pointless rant?
