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Jose Mourinho Determined to Frustrate Arsenal During Summer Transfer Window
By Josh Sippie
Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger have a storied relationship. It seems like just yesterday Wenger was relentlessly shoving Mourinho on the sidelines of a rather embarrassing Arsenal loss to Chelsea (and receiving no punishment for it, other than the loss).
Nowadays, aside from being seven points clear with a game in hand, Jose Mourinho is continuing to frustrate our Professor.
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Three huge transfer rumor stories circulating around Arsenal leading up to the summer transfer window have gotten much more Blue than they already were, with Mourinho sticking his fingers into affairs that Arsenal would prefer to be Mourinho-free.
The first of those rumors is the still-questionable hunt for a new keeper. While many think Arsenal need a new keeper, I still disagree (unless one of ours leaves). However, Petr Cech continues to be linked to Arsenal. The 32-year old keeper is said to be worth between 10 and 20 million pounds (depending on who’s asking) but it’s not as easy as writing a check.
Mark Bosnich, a former Chelsea keeper, is of the belief that Mourinho would never sell his unseated keeper to cross town rival Arsenal. “You don’t win anything without a great goalkeeper and that will be in the back of Arsene Wenger’s mind. But I don’t think he [Mourinho] would sell him to Arsenal because I think that would really tip the scales towards Arsenal.” (via talkSPORT).
I’m one to agree with Bosnich. Mourinho is a pesky man, and I can’t see him willingly selling a still-world-class Chelsea player to Arsenal, especially with how highly he rates Cech compared to Arsenal’s current crop of keepers (a crop that I’m rather pleased with).
Cech aside, Arsenal also have a little thorn in their side know as the Theo Walcott contract situation of 2015. With Walcott largely out of favor based on his lack of defensive contributions and inability to impress in his brief cameo appearances, he could very easily look for a move away from the Emirates to find more consistent playing time.
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I don’t doubt Theo Walcott’s loyalty, he is the longest tenured Arsenal player after all. But he’s at the point in his career that he needs consistent playing time and no one would blame him for moving on if he couldn’t find that playing time at Arsenal. I realize that I just said that I don’t doubt his loyalty, but going to Chelsea, if they can promise him playing time, wouldn’t be too outlandish. Plenty of Arsenal players are suiting up for top-5 teams in the EPL.
No matter how loyal Walcott is, there has to be some degree of wanting to stick it to Arsenal and prove that they should have signed him (assuming they let him go). It’s human nature.
According to the Times, Mourinho is ready to “test Arsenal’s resolve” with a bid for the speedy winger. No doubt the bid would be more than Arsenal is prepared to offer, and it would be a test of the aforementioned loyalty. Realistically though, with Eden Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Ramires and a host of strikers and attackers, Theo Walcott has to realize that barring any departures, finding playing time at Chelsea would be a fruitless endeavor.
And then there’s Charles Aranguiz, a player who until recently had been tied solely to Arsenal based on the Alexis Sanchez-Chilean link. Reports indicate (via Squawka) that Mourinho would be willing to unload up to 14 million pounds for the 6.5 million rated midfielder (transfermarkt.com).
I’ve already pegged Aranguiz as a should-be priority for Arsenal but to try to match 14 million pounds may be a losing endeavor.
It’s always entertaining when Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho make headlines, and while these are three small bullet points on their history together, it should be interesting to see how they play out.
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