Ilkay Gundogan Transfer Nixed by Arsene Wenger?

After letting myself foolishly get my hopes up that Arsenal would soon be the proud owners of a brand new German international, Arsene Wenger has went and crushed my dreams into tiny little pieces with four simple words.

“He’s not a defender.” Wenger told Arsenal.com about Ilkay Gundogan. He went on to add that “at the moment we are more looking for the defensive department.”

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I must remind myself that this is Arsene Wenger and he has a penchant for buggery. However, it was a pretty definitive answer if we’re taking it at face value.

On the more optimistic side, Wenger didn’t exactly say no. He said that he isn’t a defender, a fact that we all knew full well. So, being a painful optimist, I’ve gone ahead and convinced myself that this transfer is not off. Wenger made an offer, we know that.

Just because we got Krystian Bielik, who will be joining the first team, doesn’t mean our midfield problems are solved. Arteta is out for three months, and we’re still deficient in the deep-lying midfield department (in case you hadn’t noticed).

Gundogan for 20 million or less is a bargain that should be nearly impossible to pass up on, and with so few teams seemingly involved, there shouldn’t be too much of a bidding war taking place to acquire his talents. We know Arsene Wenger has all that he needs to get him and given that he’s a long-term admirer, I’m not fully convinced that Wenger’s “he’s not a defender” comments are at all conclusive.

That being said, I would still be incredibly surprised to see him making his way to the Emirates this January.

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