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Arsenal’s Failure to Land Geoffrey Kondogbia No Fault of Arsene Wenger

By Josh Sippie

By LauraHale (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By LauraHale (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons /
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One of the few plausibly linked players this past transfer window was Geoffrey Kondogbia. Obviously he was available seeing as how he ended up moving. Naturally, the first inclination of the “Wenger Out” army was to point the finger at the man they want ousted. Blaming him for such things as not trying hard enough or not offering enough money was the outcry.

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We do not know what goes on behind closed doors. What we see is at our discrepancy to believe or not. What it looks like is that Geoffrey Kondogbia’s decision to move to Inter Milan over Arsenal was not about Wenger not paying or not trying hard enough. It was about Kondogbia’s dream of playing at Inter Milan, particularly under Roberto Mancini.

Again, no fault of Wenger’s can be targeted. You are more than welcome to say that Kondogbia could have been swayed if Wenger would have worked harder or offered more money but their is no evidence of that. All we know is that Arsenal tried to land him but he chose Inter. That happens all the time to all kinds of different clubs.

Geoffrey Kondogbia appeared to be the perfect fit for Arsenal. Comparisons were inevitably made to Patrick Vieira for his rampaging runs and physicality in defense. Just 22 years old, he is pegged to have a fantastic career. He has beaten Francis Coquelin to the French National squad. He even played a big part in downing Arsenal and dumping them out of the Champion’s League.

Arsene Wenger has made a point that if an exceptional talent is available, he will pursue them. Clearly Kondogbia was deemed an exceptional talent. But to fault Wenger for not wrangling him to Arsenal is a bit unfair. Sometimes blaming Wenger is just the easy thing to do. You could just as easily, and more accurately, pin the blame on the English Premier League’s declining prestige.

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It has been proven that players love to play under Wenger. Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil both stated this case when they made their move to Arsenal. That does not mean that every player sees Arsene Wenger as the ideal manager though. Kondogbia cited Mancini as the primary reason why he chose Inter.

If you want to stretch it, you can say that Wenger’s failings therefore caused Kondogbia to elect Mancini over our dear Le Prof. But again, that is unfair.

It is a shame that Arsenal did not get Kondogbia. He was one of the few openly available, clear improvements available. It is even more of a shame when we came out empty-handed but Le Coq will help dull the pain.

Next: Hazard is NOT better than Alexis, EA Sports

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