Arsenal: Virgil van Dijk another to add to a long list

Arsenal failed to ever make a serious attempt to sign Virgil van Dijk last summer with Shkodran Mustafi potentially on his way out. The Southampton defender is the latest in a long list of missed opportunities.

Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have a worrying number of missed opportunities in the transfer window. In recent days, there has been a painful graphic circling social media detailing the starting XI of failed Wenger signings that he himself has admitted to. It’s far from pretty reading.

However, what it does portray, rather accurately, is that the hesitation and dithering of Wenger in his recruitment — it is difficult to put a finger on why, though his economic principles, his meticulous assessment and scouting of players, and restrictions from those above him perhaps all play a part — has cost the development of this squad on far too many occasions.

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And now, we can likely add another to a long list of spurned opportunities. As the summer transfer window drew to an agonising close, littered with unfinished sagas and unsatisfied fans, it surfaced that Shkodran Mustafi was looking to leave Arsenal, with Inter Milan the most prominent pursuer of his services. Wenger allegedly accepted his request with the caveat that he could find a replacement before the deadline.

The man who Wenger had, reportedly, highlighted as Mustafi’s successor and likely improver was Virgil van Dijk. The unsettled Southampton defender had been linked with a Saints’ exit all summer, with Liverpool coming the closest to a deal, if not for tangling themselves with illegal ‘tapping up’ of their most prized target. Van Dijk, per Gabrielle Marcotti, had a deal in place with two Premier League clubs — Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal were the three mentioned — and it is reasonable to infer that the Gunners were one of them.

As we all know, van Dijk is still a Southampton player and Mustafi has remained in North London, despite his wishes otherwise. That means that, at some point, the plug was pulled on the van Dijk deal, probably by Wenger.

While Mustafi is an undoubtedly accomplished defender who should be given time to continue acclimatising to the Premier League after a first season in England that highlighted a number of shortcomings, mixed with some natural attributes that could lead to a bright future, van Dijk is a clear and significant improvement on the German.

His greater aerial prowess thanks to his towering, 6-foot-6 frame, his coolness when defending, playing in a far more assured manner than Mustafi, especially when the German chooses to lunge into rash tackles without reason nor rhyme, and his positional astuteness and awareness make him a marked improvement and the perfect partner to Laurent Koscielny.

Next: Arsenal: 3 players who must step up after quiet summer

I was, initially, against the signing of van Dijk. I believed that he unnecessarily crowded out the position, stenting the progress of Rob Holding and Calum Chambers. However, that was under the assumption that he would be an addition, not a replacement. As the former, he was not needed; as the latter, he was ideal. If only, eh?

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