Arsenal: Wissam Ben-Yedder Logic Is Illogical

Arsenal missed on on Wissam Ben-Yedder, which isn’t detrimental (yet) but the striker’s logic for why he snubbed Arsenal is completely backwards and illogical.

Arsenal missing out on a £8m striker should not get me so upset. But the fact that Wissam Ben-Yedder is going to be wearing a kit other than Arsenal’s just really grinds my gears. Mainly because I don’t fully understand it.

I get that players turn down Arsenal. Of course they do. Not everyone fits everywhere. I could even get it if he turned it down under the same pretenses that Vardy turned it down. But he didn’t. He saw Sevilla as the ‘best club’ for him and that is what has me all tangled up in the head.

I’m not even looking at this from a perspective of thinking that my team is the best or that everyone should accept an offer from Arsenal. I’m looking at it from a logistics standpoint. So Ben-Yedder wants to be the next Gameiro, that’s cute and all, but Gameiro isn’t a household name in many places. At best, he is hoping to be a good striker at a second-tier team. Fair enough. But to me that shows a lack of ambition. Or maybe I just have too high of an opinion of Ben-Yedder in the first place. But it’s hard not to when his numbers and ability show such a high potential for growth.

Toulouse's French forward Wissam Ben Yedder celebrates after scoring a goal during a French L1 football match between Toulouse and Sochaux on November 30, 2013 at the Municipal Stadium in Toulouse. AFP PHOTO / PASCAL PAVANI (Photo credit should read PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images)

(Photo credit should read PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images) /

At Arsenal, Ben-Yedder could have potentially been something huge. The window of opportunity was right there, it was open, and it was a sunny day. But instead of accepting the warm invitation, he shut that window and went into the closet.

Ben-Yedder says Sevilla is the perfect club, but just before Sevilla signed him, they also signed Luciano Vietto, who is younger, more promising and faster. Considering how Sevilla spent 34 of their matches in a 4-2-3-1 formation, I don’t see Ben-Yedder sharing pitch time with the young Argentine talent, so where does he go when he is playing second fiddle to someone younger than him? Will they still be the perfect club?

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Vietto may only be on loan, but that option to buy is the key. He never really clicked at Atletico, but in his defense, the capital dwellers play a very defensive style of football and rely on Griezmann for everything else. There isn’t much room for someone else to make headway.

At Sevilla, there is a big wide opening for a quick striker (like Gameiro) and Vietto fits the billing perfectly. Plus, they get to try him before they buy him.

So what are your goals, Wissam? Are you hoping to outfox a younger fox or settle for substitution duties at the age of 25? At Arsenal, Ben-Yedder could have been the foil that Giroud has needed since he arrived. That opposite playing style that provides versatility for a top-tier team.

And since he would have saved Wenger so much money, you know Le Prof would have invested so much time and faith in the former-Toulouse man so that he could vindicate only spending £8m on what looked like was going to be a £40m+ problem.

Save Le Prof money and you’re his buddy for life.

I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to be a foil on a top-tier team where the striking position can be yours in little to no time at all. Especially when the other option is going to a second-tier team and trying to compete with someone that plays a similar style, only he is younger and more promising.

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What am I missing here? Someone help me out? Did Wenger not really want him, so he sort of just sent his assistants after him? Was it a play style thing? Am I being too harsh on Sevilla? What’s going on here?

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