Arsenal have been battered for the past few years for selling Robin van Persie to Manchester United.
This summer they have held firm on Alexis Sanchez, kept their star striker and resisted Manchester City’s huge £60million bid and they are still getting battered.
No wonder a few people at the club must be thinking they simply cannot win.
The position was clear: they couldn’t sell without a replacement. And because they couldn’t get one in, they didn’t sell. So they stuck to their principles.
It was a deadline day of madness. Arsenal, City and Sanchez were at the centre of the storm and the blame game between the two clubs has really kicked into gear.
Arsenal cannot understand why City left it so late. City cannot understand why Arsenal didn’t get anyone lined up.
The fact is Arsenal didn’t want to sell, their ideal would be for him to sign a new contract (that is never going to happen now) and have a good season.
But the whole summer has brought accusations that Arsenal will just sell out, do another van Persie and take the money. People have asked questions, Arsene Wenger has answered and everyone has rolled their eyes, not really believing in what he says.
The difference this time was that they were determined to get a top class replacement in before selling Sanchez and that ultimately is the reason why the deal did not go through.
Sanchez wanted to join City, they have kept an unhappy player and yet City left it too late for Arsenal to complete on other deals.
Arsenal did bid £90m for Thomas Lemar. The bid was accepted, Arsenal were ready to do it but felt time was running out and the worst case scenario was to push the button on Sanchez, lose Lemar and end up with a massive own goal. That’s the reason.
Transfer deadline day isn’t always the huge event that everyone makes it out to be. It’s exciting but we should start judging it for what it is rather than a major event. If good deals happen, then great. If they don’t, be honest.
That’s why I think the clamour to big up Lemar reached silly proportions. The deal was dead by the time the yellow ticker began to claim the deal was close. It was never close.
It turned into a shambles. But I actually think it’s unfair to batter Arsenal too much on Sanchez. In fact, they are due some credit on that one. They could have sold for £60m, just taken the money, not signed anyone and that would have been worse.
Now they have kissed goodbye to £60m because Sanchez will leave for free next summer.
The whole thing is a mess. Yes, they should have got him to sign a contract, but if the player will not sign (he has been demanding £400,000-a-week for months) then what can they do? It’s impossible.
Arsenal’s window has not been good. They finish with a net profit after the likes of Alex Oxalade-Chamberlain, Woijcech Szczesny, Gabriel and Kieran Gibbs were all sold with Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac the only major new arrivals.
Arsenal’s squad looks weaker than before. Their rivals, including City, have bought big, bought well and Arsenal look well behind. That’s the bigger worry, a bigger worry than Sanchez and losing money.
I will never understand why fans try to join the balance sheet brigade, worry too much about finance when surely the dream is what happens on the pitch.
Arsenal have now got Sanchez for another year. He can be a difficult character, tough to manage and definitely has an ego. He also has a will to win which hopefully should keep pushing him this season rather than for him to sulk and down tools.
I’ve been critical of Arsenal this summer. I felt Wenger should have gone. They should have listened to those at the club pushing for more change. There’s not been enough. I think it’ll be a poor season.
But one thing they deserve some credit for on deadline day is holding firm and keeping Sanchez. Can you imagine if they hadn’t? The fall-out and anger would have been far worse.