If reports are to be believed, Arsenal are rivalling Liverpool for the signature of Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing, with a bid of £18million.
That’s £2million more than Manchester United paid Villa for Ashley Young, who is a much better player.
That’s around the same fee United and City are looking to pay us for Samir Nasri, who is a much better player.
At a guess, that’s maybe £8million more than we’d have to pay for the relatively unused Adam Johnson at City, who is also a much better player.
I have never rated Downing, at Middlesbrough or at Villa, or his occasional appearance for England, and I hope we let Liverpool waste their money on him.
I know if we lose Nasri our options on the wings aren’t fantastic, but Walcott and Arshavin produce more than Downing even when not at their best. And if the Gervinho deal EVER goes through, he can play out wide as well, probably to better effect than Downing.
So we’re not exactly looking at a problem position, unlike at centre-back, left-back or central midfield where we could really use reinforcements right now. If Wenger pays this extremely unfair fee for a player we don’t really need, and who isn’t very good, and who, as a winger who likes to cross the ball probably wouldn’t fit our style of play, then we have yet another sign that the boss is totally losing the plot. This money could have signed Young if he’d been quick enough, and it could definitely sign Samba or Cahill, who would make a huge difference to our fortunes next season.
Along with a lot of stuff churned out by the papers every day, this might well be a rumour, but unlike most, it seems a strong one, and certainly a worrying one.
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