Arsenal: Arsene Wenger Can Learn From Sergi Samper

Arsenal looks to have had serious contact with Sergi Samper before he decided on stay at Barcelona, but Arsene Wenger can learn from this.

Arsenal were knocking on the door of young Barcelona midfielder Sergi Samper not all that long ago but, needless to say, the deal didn’t go through. Samper, now on loan at Granada, has spoken out about the prospective move and his steadfastness is actually kind of inspiring.

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“I did not want to even listen to Wenger,” he said, as quoted by 90 min.

“I made it clear to him that I wanted to stay, that I wanted to triumph at Barca, that I was a Cule fanatic and that making it at Barca in the future would make me the happiest.”

You can gripe all you want that he made a mistake or that he should have come to Arsenal, but loyalty like this, even when it gets in the way of a move to Arsenal, is a positive thing and something that can – hopefully – shed some light on a current situation Arsene Wenger is dealing with.

This is when I tie the story into Jon Toral, our very own Barcelona Spaniard.

No matter where Samper goes, his voice remains the same – I want to be a Barca man. It doesn’t matter who comes to him, he wants to return to Barcelona and make his career there.

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Jon Toral is doing the same. No matter what loan he is sent on, good or bad, his focus and drive remains on making it in North London and clicking in their first team. He may dedicate himself to whatever purpose is at hand, but the end goal is untouched.

Samper is no different. It’s almost a shame that Wenger was barking after Samper when he had someone similar already in his midst in Jon Toral, who is just sitting by patiently, passing every test and pleading for that chance.

The similarities are clear. Samper is a La Masia product like Toral, but Toral was shipped off with Bellerin under the understanding that there just was not enough room. Well, now Toral and Samper are in the same boat – wanting to make it at the club they love and biding their time.

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Samper isn’t wrong to be loyal. He didn’t make a mistake. There is no guarantee that he would be the Santi Cazorla replacement and given how Wenger won’t even try Toral, there’s no guarantee that Samper would have fared any better.