Arsenal: Denis Suarez smart one way, nonsensical another

There is uncertainty regarding Arsenal’s move for Denis Suarez: Will it be a loan or a permanent deal? The signing is smart one way and nonsensical the other.

Let’s be real here, Arsenal are not working with the most freeing of budgets. Even after an outlay of less than £100 million in the summer, which is hardly a substantial amount when chasing a Premier League title in the explosive modern game, there has been plenty of talk of limited funds with which the club can use this January.

Find the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here – The 2018 Review

Without commenting too much on the outrageousness of a club that turned over the third-highest revenue in English football in the financial year 2016-17, the accounts for which year were published in the 2018 summer, not having money to spend, any discussion about what Sven Mislintat and his band of merry transfer men may do this January must come with the prior acknowledgement that big money will not be spent.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

That brings me to Denis Suarez. The seemingly unwanted Barcelona midfielder is reportedly attracting interest from Unai Emery and the north London club. Given his prior relationship with Emery from their time at Sevilla and the apparent truth that Barcelona want to sell, — he has played just 17 La Liga minutes this campaign — these reports do make plenty of sense. A relatively talented player, on the cheap, who has a prior relationship with the head coach. A very Arsenal signing, if you will.

Only, now, on Monday, just a few days after the initial reports of a £14 million deal surfaced, there is a potential spanner in the works. There is uncertainty over the deal because Arsenal may not be able to afford the £14 million fee for Suarez and are instead only interested in a six-month loan deal to bolster their somewhat depleted midfield options for the remainder of the season. I know. Ridiculous.

The Suarez deal is not that heart-pounding exhilarating anyway. It is not Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all over again. I still think that at £14 million he is a player worth signing, merely because of his potential. Spurs and Liverpool’s recent projects have been built on players with faults and flaws that have been bought on the cheap and then coached up and improved.

But while I am a fan of the move on a permanent basis, a loan makes no sense whatsoever. Suarez might not even start for Arsenal, especially once Henrikh Mkhitaryan returns to action, and what could an unused and unwanted 25-year-old who only has negative experiences of English football provide that a Joe Willock or Ainsley Maitland-Niles could not?

Signing Suarez permanently is not about what he can give the team now. Where Aubameyang needed to hit the ground running for his transfer to be a success because of his age, Suarez is bought for his potential, not his immediate production. A loan move doesn’t even give you access to that. It simply provides an average, low self-esteem player for six months. And it is all, apparently, because Arsenal cannot, or, perhaps more accurately, do not want to, pay up.

Suarez is a smart signing one way and an utterly nonsensical one the other. Let’s hope that Mislintat and co. can wise up.