Arsenal: Edinson Cavani Remains Whimsical Alternate Reality

Arsenal still need a striker and that means that it’s only natural that Edinson Cavani is linked. But he only exists at Arsenal in an alternate reality.

Many people, when considering what Arsenal could have had at striker, look back to 2013. Gonzalo Higuain was leaving Real Madrid and everything pointed towards him coming to Arsenal. But it just never happened. He went to Napoli instead.

I’ve gotten over that. What I haven’t gotten over is what happened the next summer. Arsenal, still needing a viable striking partner to match Olivier Giroud, went down to the wire looking for a solution. At the end, there were only three real options. The main was Falcao, but there was also Edinson Cavani (and Danny Welbeck….)

The Uruguayan was not happy at PSG. He was adamant about that in his statements. There were fall outs upon fall outs between Cavani, Laurent Blanc, and Zlatan. Those fall outs were happening as recently as this past January. He just wasn’t happy that he wasn’t being given a proper opportunity to challenge Zlatan. He was a striker, not a wide man. Even his father was commenting very harshly that his son was being misused.

Even as recently as February, Edinson’s father was clear that he wanted his son to leave Paris for a team that would use him the way he is meant to be used.

To me, the biggest missed chance in recent memory was Arsenal’s inability to secure Cavani when the rift first started to develop. Cavani is a better, more consistent striker than Higuain who puts up better numbers, even when being played out wide, in Zlatan’s shadow.

But the opportunity has passed for Cavani. If he was going to leave, he would have done it long ago, not when he has finally moved into the No. 9 role at PSG. In the end, the only thing that would secure that role for him was patience. He showed patience in lasting this long and now he has the role.

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The only hope there really is is if Cavani has a thirst for revenge and wants to stick it to PSG for his years of being misused. But that seems rather conniving of him.

Arsenal is, of course, being linked to Cavani again. At 29 years of age, Cavani is only valued at £35m, about half of what he was valued at two years ago. If Arsenal is willing to go all in on Jamie Vardy, who is also 29, then Cavani should bring about some interest as well.

Unfortunately though, it seems as though that opportunity has passed. I believe that, in some alternate reality, if Arsenal was in the same position they are right now, but two years ago, then Wenger would have sprung for Cavani. It feels like Le Prof has stepped up his ambition lately and started making some crucial signings in the process.

Next: 5 Reasons Why Vardy Trumps Aubameyang

Cavani could still make all the difference. He is in that tier of strikers just beneath the big three and we know that at Arsenal, he would have every chance to take the role from Giroud.