Arsenal: Tony Pulis The Grinch To Wenger’s Christmas

Arsenal’s defensive search is hovering over Johnny Evans, but Tony Pulis seems intent on being the Grinch on Arsene Wenger’s transfer Christmas.

It’s frustrating, following Arsenal’s transfer rumors. This has been arguably the worst summer in recent memory because Wenger has been attempting to make moves, the moves just aren’t going through. We aren’t used to that. Usually when Wenger wants a guy, he gets him. But this summer, Vardy, reportedly Griezmann, Lacazette and so far Mustafi have all eluded Le Prof’s grasp.

Related Story: 5 Transfer Stories To Follow

That’s a hard pill to swallow for supporters who can see the problems that Arsenal has as clear as day.

And there is one man out there making everything worse. If I were to say that there is someone out there who exists solely to annoy Arsene Wenger, I don’t think you’d have any trouble identifying who. Jose Mourinho would be the first thought, but I do think that, despite his bizarre fascination with one-upping Wenger, he has bigger fish to fry.

Tony Pulis doesn’t.

The West Brom manager made a nuisance of himself when at Stoke City, employing tactics that seemed solely devoted to causing Wenger problems. But it worked.

Then, with the season long loan of Serge Gnabry, Pulis found another way to spoil Arsenal’s plans. Rather than give the incredibly talented winger a chance, he instead gave him 12 minutes, told the world that he wasn’t good enough, and held onto him until February.

Now, Pulis strikes again.

Wenger may not be the king of fall back options, but just in case he was, Pulis is seeing to it that he cannot accomplish his goals. In the wake of the Shkodran Mustafi deal stalling, Pulis has reportedly jacked up the price of Johnny Evans to a massively ridiculous fee of £25m.

I realize that this isn’t a charity. I’m not saying that Pulis is doing anything wrong. I just find it fascinating that he always seems so intent on being a nuisance. Johnny Evans is worth nowhere near that amount and, given the fact that he would be backing up a potentially prolific Rob Holding, Wenger will never pay that much.

But Pulis knew that. This is just what Pulis does. It’s a damn good thing he doesn’t run a bigger team with players that Wenger actually wants, because if he did, the entire team would be cordoned off like a crime scene.

Next: 5 Defenders To Replace Mustafi

Evans never looked like a top priority for Arsenal though. And if anything, this sudden price hike will hopefully help to refocus Wenger on other defenders that he should have his attention on.