Arsene Wenger seems intent on signing a Spanish striker during the January transfer market. At least, that’s if you believe Goal.com.
Earlier this week, Arsenal were believed to have made a £10m bid for Atletico Madrid striker, Adrian Lopez. The sprightly Spanish forward has a £14.5m release clause written into his contract – a rather fair fee I’d say for a player of his caliber.
Suffice to say, I’m surprised that the Gunners have started the bidding at such a low price.
But it’s now claimed that Arsenal won’t push through a deal for Adrian, until they know for sure that they won’t be able to get their hands on David Villa.
Yes, that’s the same David Villa that is Spain’s all-time top scorer. Can you really picture him at a club like Arsenal?
Goal.com claim that Arsene is a ‘long-term admirer’ of David Villa and is willing to pay £13.8m and match his current €136k-a-week wages. Formal approaches have been made.
Whilst I wouldn’t exactly be disappointed to see Villa turn up at the Emirates, it does strike me as a distinctly un-Arsenal signing. Dare I say it, there seem to be better solutions out there and Adrian may well be one of them.
Arsene Wenger is known for snapping up young players and developing them. David Villa is 31-years-old now and suffered a serious leg-injury last season that saw him out of the game for a long period of time. His form has been affected since and he’s struggled to fit into the Barcelona first team this season.
In other words, it’s difficult to see Arsene getting ‘more’ out of Villa. It strikes me, that the Spanish great may start to find that his best years are behind him.
Arsenal are a club that need to look to the future. They need players who can impact upon the team, not just now, but over the next 3-4 seasons. They won’t be able to build a new team (or at least institute the major changes that need to be made) built on short-term solutions.
Unlike Villa, Adrian Lopez is 24-years-old, he’s got pace and trickery and he’s a smart customer. Whilst he doesn’t have a goal-scoring record like the Barca man, whenever he gets regular football, he always finds the back of the net.
With that in mind, I can’t help but favour Adrian. Let’s just hope that Arsene takes a similar view.
What’s your take, would you prefer to see Adrian or Villa at the Emirates?
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To be honest I’d be happy If we signed either of them
It think Arsene Wenger/Arsenal board needs to press the trigger sooner than later to avoid another hasty January transfers. Wenger is noted for tracking very good players only for other clubs to snash them away, like BA, Holtby, Mata, etc. It wiser that we go for Adrian whom I believe will make a much longer impact to the Arsenal team than Villa who is already at this Zenith.
david villa mch better for arsenal…..i hope he will join arsenal in this summer….
Villa is a very good striker we need him in arsenal squad.
Have you ever watched Adrian actually play ?I have and i can tell you he is not in the same class as David Villa who at 31 years at age and after that much telled injury is still one of the best strikers in the world , only problem for him is that he has to compete for position with Messi.
This season he has been played in 12 games/six as a substitute) on the wing and has scored 5 goals wich is phenomenal given the playing time he has had and the position he has played in.
I think David Villa is the best replacment we could have for Robin van Persie and probably even better player.
We can’t afford any. Wenger n the management have destroyed the club. Profit…profit…profit n nothing else. If the shit spuds can buy, how much more Arsenal? It’s a shame that we are not gonna win anything again – 8yrs not even an ANT CUP. Come Usmonov.
Lopez for me.
AFC are right to pursue sound financial practice. The whole world is full of debt it will eventually cause problems to the global economy and football clubs will not be immumne.