‘If I was Suarez, when you look at everything, it does seem strange he would want to go to Arsenal’.

That view that is shared by a broad majority of the football public, but one that Arsene Wenger and his loyal subjects would prefer not to have heard coming from the scattergun tongue of Ian Wright.

Long criticised for their pernicious latter day policy which has dictated minimal player investment, and is coupled with an inability to retain star performers, Wenger might view as ironic the derision with which his chase for Suarez has been greeted in some quarters.

Popular opinion suggests that the phenomenal Uruguayan would be making a barely discernible step forward in his career by opting for a switch to the Emirates.  It is only 12 months since the Gunners lost Robin Van Persie to Manchester United.  The Dutchman followed Emmanuel Adebayor, – oft derided, but scorer of 46 goals during two-and-a-half years in North London – Cesc Fabergas, and Samir Nasri, in a list of men who grew tired of waiting for Wenger’s contemporary jam tomorrow reign to bear fruit.

Against the frustration of the Arsenal supporters, who are asked to fork out the highest sums in the country to watch their team, and almost contrary to reason, the French manager continues to deliver Champions League football for his club.

The latest precious fourth place finish, secured in May, was earned in most part thanks to a terrific close to the season in which Wenger’s side won 12 of their final sixteen games.  Tellingly, the three draws in that sequence were against; Liverpool, Everton, and Manchester United.  Tottenham Hotspur inflicted the sole defeat.

It was the likes of; West Ham United, Sunderland, Reading, Norwich City, and Wigan Athletic, who were swatted aside as Arsenal edged a point ahead of their bitter rivals from White Hart Lane.

That struggle against stellar opposition does not bode well for Champions League progress in the forthcoming campaign.  No more can be expected beyond the Gunners routine appearance in the last-16, at which stage myriad shortcomings are habitually exposed.

That is surely not what Suarez would be signing up for.  Undoubtedly, one of world football’s eminent protagonists, the attacker must crave the chance to compete for the game’s biggest trophies.

This is a hard sell for Wenger, then, and the last man he would have foreseen throwing a spanner in the works is the former striker with the club so close to his heart.  Across nearly seven years at Highbury, Wright broke Cliff Bastin’s long-standing Gunners’ goal-scoring record, – since eclipsed by Thierry Henry – and, by scoring 128 goals in 221 Arsenal outings, forged a reputation as one of the deadliest centre-forwards of his era.

What’s more, Wright’s Arsenal dotage was spent as part of the embryonic Wenger rule – a period in which the manager initiated his revolutionary training and tactical approach, and which furnished the legendary striker with Premier League and F.A. Cup medals, to add to the F.A. Cup, League Cup, and European Cup Winners’ Cup gongs he’d already won in the famous red and white.

Wright cast his view on Suarez while in the process of publicising his new role as a co-host on Radio 5 Live’s 6-0-6 phone-in programme.  It is entirely plausible, therefore, that a man not renowned for keeping his counsel was, by voicing such strident opinion, seeking maximum publicity for his newest venture.

Nevertheless, any individual who places value on Arsenal’s well-being – be they owner, chief executive, manager, player, former-player, or man in the prohibitively priced plush Emirates seat – will dearly wish their one-time hero had chosen another subject on which to pontificate.

Various reports hint at Suarez being tempted by Arsenal’s much-trumpeted, but still to be seen, heavy-spending attempt at assembling a squad capable of challenging the powerful Manchester duo, and what is certain to be a high-calibre Chelsea outfit under the incomparable charge of Jose Mourinho.

Suarez’s recidivist nature ensures his acquisition constitutes an iota of risk for any buying club.  That is nothing by comparison to the gamble which a world class attacker, on the cusp of his prime years, would be taking by throwing his lot in with Wenger’s eternal pursuit of an idealistic dream.

If Suarez’s mind is racked with uncertainly, the assertion of one of Arsenal’s favourite sons that the player should ‘give Liverpool another season’, might just be enough to sway the South American and his army of advisers into resisting the Wenger vision.

For all Gooners, their manager’s words, published today, will send a shiver down the spine.

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