Arsenal Transfer Rumors: Dimitri Payet The Definition Of Panic Buy

Arsenal was never one to make panic buys until this summer, but going after Dimitri Payet would continue this unnecessary trend.

Arsenal and French players are always going to have this inherent link. Arsene Wenger has always shown no hesitation going after his countrymen. Yet it was in this past summer, when Wenger arguably made two panic buys, that he avoided Frenchmen altogether.

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By landing Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez at the buzzer, we were a bit left in the blue as to what to expect. They were being dubbed ‘panic buys’, which carries massively negative connotation. Yet as we have seen, particularly with Mustafi, just because it is a panic buy does not mean that it is destined to fail.

I would toss Dimitri Payet into the same category. The man is dying to get away from West Ham, as Slaven Bilic himself as said. He is in the latter stages of his career and he plays a position that Arsenal has in abundance when healthy.

That would be a panic buy if there ever was one.

But again, panic buys aren’t always a bad thing. It worked for Mustafi and even Lucas is coming around. Payet is the same deal. I’m sure that he could be a functioning member of this Arsenal first team, but given the surplus at the positions he plays (and I highly doubt he would be asked to play a holding role) there would be quite the cluster when the crew comes back.

So much of a cluster that someone would get stiffed and I wouldn’t be surprised if that someone was Payet himself. Earning the faith of Wenger is not an easy thing and it’s clear that Payet is an antsy fellow, with little patience for sitting around.

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Wenger has a much higher probability of letting Iwobi grind out the hours and grow into a player than supplanting him with a ready-made 30 year old that has no affiliation to Arsenal whatsoever.

Not only that, but I’m still not wholly convinced that he belongs with a top tier team, just like I’m not fully convinced of Riyad Mahrez. And I realize that many of you out there are grinding your teeth at this assessment, but hear me out.

Payet has his obvious uses, he’s a talented man, despite how late he came into that success. Surely he would be of some use to the Gunners, but I don’t think he would be of the use that he sees himself. Meaning his assessment of himself is higher, I believe, than what Wenger would be needing.

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I said the same of Mahrez and I feel I’ve been vindicated. So humor me with Payet. Let’s see where he goes from here.

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