Arsenal: Kylian Mbappe Dagger Won’t Be Easily Removed
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal missed out on Kylian Mbappe last summer and now they have suffered the ultimate KO to their hopes of uniting with the young Frenchman.
After Arsene Wenger so openly admitted to Arsenal missing out on Kylian Mbappe last summer, the Mbappe radar has been off the chart. Of course, it’s been helped along by the young Monaco forward’s unbelievable skill set.
Since that fatal linkage last summer, Mbappe has gone on a tear, ripping apart Ligue 1 and, perhaps more importantly, the Champions League. He has become, without a doubt, the most valuable young player in the world.
Naturally, Wenger yet again admitted to his interest in his younger countryman, but then he delivered a swift stab to the spleen, rendering our hopes of seeing the young man in an Arsenal kit almost obsolete.
His words, as quoted by Sky Sports:
"Obviously it would be hypocritical and a lie to say that we are not looking at him. But he’s already in the bracket of clubs who are, perhaps, much better financed than us."
That’s rather deflating. Here we are looking forward to a big, revolutionary summer with changes and signings and a brand new restocking of the club’s shortfalls and we are already priced out of a top target.
What makes matters worse is what naturally accompanies this news. If we are priced out of Mbappe and he figured to cost £60m+, then who else are we priced out of?
Well, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Antoine Griezmann are certainly off the table, meaning that it is literally Alexandre Lacazette or bust if we are looking for a new striker. Which, despite the stock we already have, should definitely be explored.
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This is actually a really defeated statement. What was the point of shirking the homely, historical Highbury for the super-power-laden Emirates? It was so that Arsenal could compete with the Bayern Munich’s out there who also had super stadiums and so that any player would be within our price range.
Yet now he is saying that Mbappe might already be out of our price range? Something isn’t quite clicking here. And for lack of a better scapegoat, I’m looking at everyone’s favorite American tycoon, Stan Kroenke.
If the problem is funding, despite the fact that this is the only club in the known world to value finances over trophies and despite the fact that the Emirates is one of the biggest cash cow stadiums in off of Europe, wouldn’t it therefore stand to reason that the man doing the most funding is responsible?
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There we have it. By power of deductive reasoning and the need to establish a villain, we have arrived at a familiar face.