Arsenal: Riyad Mahrez Pursuit Still Devoid Of Substance

Arsenal has supposedly been in hot pursuit of Riyad Mahrez all summer, but the transfer saga is still devoid of substance days before the season begins.

One of the most storied transfer sagas of this summer is the rumored move of Riyad Mahrez to Arsenal. The PFA player of the year has been linked with Arsenal all summer and even back to the winter transfer window, but nothing has materialized and all we are basing the rumors on are conflicting reports from various sources of varying repute.

The fact is that Riyad Mahrez’s rumored move to Arsenal is so devoid of substance that we have very little to go off of. There have been very few quotes from anyone associated with the move, other than Ranieri saying that Mahrez was distracted and then saying that he wasn’t.

There was also Jamie Vardy making general comments about how the club needs to stick together.

There is very little doubt that teams are courting Mahrez, but it’s hard to buy into a rumor that is being kept alive by the papers because such rumors rarely ever pan out. Just ask Edinson Cavani.

Riyad Mahrez’s latest hint that the papers are keying in on is him supposedly following Yaya Sanogo on Twitter. Now, I’ll admit, that’s weird. Mainly because it’s Yaya Sanogo. But to think that it’s an actual hint that he is moving to Arsenal? That’s a massive stretch.

Most major deals like this are not only talked about by various parties, but they also make sense in general. Mahrez has neither of those factors. Yes, Wenger unleashed his fierce grin when he was interviewed following Leicester’s preseason match up, but Le Prof’s response was perfectly acceptable. Arsenal plays the Foxes in match week two. Why not do a little scouting?

In terms of the move actually making sense, I see this as the biggest detractor of all. Arsenal does not need another wide attacker and you could even argue that adding another would be the end of the Ox, Campbell, Gnabry and even Iwobi. With Alexis and Mahrez, all of Wenger’s projects fall by the wayside.

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There is no need for that. It would be a pleasant luxury, but we all know that Wenger does not deal in luxuries all that often.

We can fantasize about Mahrez in an Arsenal kit all we want, but at the end of the day, we are basing that fantasy off of nothing but blind speculation. And before you ask “aren’t most rumors composed of that?”, which the answer is certainly yes, we have to look at past completed deals. Xhaka dropped hints all the time, as did Wenger. Remember when Xhaka jokingly said he was coming for Coquelin’s number? That is a hint. Not following someone on Twitter.

Mesut Ozil wasn’t even talked about hardly when the deal was done and Alexis was always a perfect fit.

These big time deals not only had either complete secrecy or hints galore, but they had a very obvious need. Arsenal needed a No. 10, they needed a holding midfielder, they needed a reliable wide attacker. These are the transfers that happen.

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Very rarely does a transfer actually happen when the papers are speculating about them all day long.

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