Arsenal: Aleksandr Golovin transfer sounding like pure idiocy

Arsenal look to be pursuing little-known commodities rather than big fish, and they aren’t even making it sound good. What’s the point of Aleksandr Golovin?

Arsene Wenger has a new life to pursue obscure signings after Rob Holding came out looking like what John Stones has been trying to be his entire life. That’s just part of the culture he has brought to Arsenal and, to a certain extent, there’s really no harm there. Not when he does what he did last summer and signed players on top of his obscure wild cards.

Aleksandr Golovin emerged as another potentially obscure signing that no one was that excited about. I tried to convince my self I was because, honestly, what did it hurt? Another new player, could be anybody. It’s kind of fun.

For £10m, there isn’t a lot on the line, although that is kind of pricey for a wild card, but hey why not, let’s roll the dice.

Then Pavel Kucherov, Arsenal’s Russian scout, spoke up about Golovin and it left me staring blankly at the screen. Here’s what he had to say, as quoted by the Metro:

"This was a surprise for me. Usually, these things aren’t publicised and are kept private. He is not talented enough for the European level and it’s unrealistic to discuss his transfer to a top Premier League club. To make it to a top Premier League club, Aleksandr would need to improve his football in general, as well as his physical, psychological and mental attributes. If Golovin wants to prove himself in England, he will have to do it step by step. Because of high competition, he would be getting little playing time to prove himself."

Go ahead, read it again. Try to find the good part. I still haven’t found it and I’m about to give up on looking.

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Basically, what Kucherov is saying, is that Arsenal would be spending £10m on a player who is mentally and physically not ready for the move, doesn’t have the talent to play in the Premier League and ‘needs to improve his football in general.’

So what the hell would be the point? Because it sounds like we’d be throwing money away, and with Wenger, each penny counts.

Golovin is 21 years old. That’s not old, but if no part of him is ready for England, then you’d have to imagine he’d need at least three years to make necessary improvements, and if he isn’t doing that in England, I’d say more like four. Then you have to factor him actually coming over and factoring in and acclimating, which would take another couple of years.

Before you know it, he’s 27 and we haven’t even seen him make a lick of a difference.

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Sounds like utter silliness. Pointless business. Yet all the reports indicate, curiously optimistically, that the move is going forward and looks to be nearing completion.

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