Arsenal: Andre Silva another solution passed by in search of perfection

Arsenal’s need for a striker is no secret, yet here we are, watching AC Milan sign promising strikers like Andre Silva at reasonable prices.

Arsenal’s need for a striker is pretty complicated. On one hand, yes they need a big time, unquestionable scorer who has only ever been fantastic. Someone like Antoine Griezmann. It would eliminate all doubts and push this attack over the top. Wedging someone like that in between what hopefully remains as Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez is simply deadly.

But that isn’t the only option. There is another equally feasible option to pluck a solid, young striker with a proven goal scoring record and work him into the rotation. Someone you wouldn’t have to break the bank on, yet has immediate value as well as a glimmering future.

That someone could work into the competitive atmosphere being created by a powered-up Olivier Giroud and a stallion Danny Welbeck.

Andre Silva was one such candidate. The formerly-Porto striker has recently agreed to a completely reasonable £35m deal to move to AC Milan.

What made Silva such an unlikely candidate for Arsenal in the beginning was the rumored £52m fee attached to him. It defeated the purpose. You could use that money to get a much better striker with a better history and more present value. You could get Alexandre Lacazette for that kind of money.

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But to see Silva now go for much less than that reported fee, with Arsenal not even raising a pip (so it seems, at least) is utterly baffling. Such a seemingly easy solution at a price that Wenger has paid before and nothing, just more outlandish links to spending nine digits on Kylian Mbappe or the ever-raising game of “guess how much Lacazette will cost?”

This might just come down to, yet again, Arsene Wenger believing he can get so much better, when really he can’t. I would like to believe that we can land Mbappe on a promise of future glory and starting minutes, but what if we don’t? Will we be stuck with another bargain priced striker that Wenger will never play for inexplicable reasons?

Or we could have gotten someone who was maybe an 8/10 instead of a 12/10, accepting that at the moment, we just can’t attract those top tier players.

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Or maybe I’m crazy, who knows. I just don’t see the logic in watching all of these perfectly acceptable solution pass on by when the perfect solution cannot be captured.

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