Arsenal: Arsene Wenger comments settle my fears, oddly

I previously wrote that I did not want to let myself believe that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could actually join Arsenal. Well, now my fears are being settled by Arsene Wenger, oddly.

It was two weeks ago that the first sniffs of Arsenal possibly signing Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang arose. It was an exciting, if slightly tentative, time. Aubameyang is one of the best strikers in the world. Surely he wouldn’t sign for Arsenal, right? We have, after all, been here before.

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And I myself did not want to believe it. I even wrote this shortly after the first few reports surfaced, admitting my desperate want for the deal to be completed while also harbouring some trepidation, simply because my poor heart can’t take another missed signing.

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But it seems, however unlikely unusual, that this one might just go through. After the Alexis-Sanchez-Henrikh-Mkhitaryan swap was announced on Monday afternoon, Arsene Wenger revealed that discussions were ongoing with Borussia Dortmund regarding the signing of Aubameyang. Here is what he said when asked about whether he believed the deal would be completed:

"“Confident or not confident, I don’t know. You never know how close you are. This is the kind of thing – he is one of the possible movements, but we have other things in mind as well. We have plenty of opportunities and the final decision is not made. At the moment we are not close to any deal, Aubameyang or anybody else.”"

Now, Wenger is an extremely private and reserved character. He likes to protect the goings-on at the club from the baying media, often trying to conduct his business away from the furore of the modern football fandom. He also goes to even further lengths to steer clear of commenting on transfer speculation, especially in regards to named individuals. And that is perfectly understandable.

But that is the exact opposite of what he has done here. Although he has admitted that he does not know if a deal will be agreed upon or not, the very fact that he is commenting on proceedings at all means that there are at least proceedings happening. In most fanatical Arsenal transfer rumours, that is a major step forward.

That soothes my fears somewhat substantially. Wenger may not be the most trustworthy of sources — just this month he said that the Sanchez deal would be completed within 48 hours. A week later and we were still waiting for the official announcement. But he is historically tentative when it comes to talking about players from other teams.

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It seems a little odd to place my trust in a man whose words to the media have meant so little. I guess that is the optimism of wanting what he says to be true. I want them to be true so I believe them to be true. Let’s hope that I am not a fool once again.