Arsenal: Yannick Carrasco hang-up not even surprising

Arsenal are being tied to another potential wide attacking solution in Yannick Carrasco, but you’ll never guess what the hang-up is.

There was a time, not all that long ago, when Yannick Carrasco was being bantered about in the transfer rumor sphere for fees nearing £75m. Back then, it was silly to even put Arsenal in the same spectrum, but the links persisted.

Carrasco followed the money and left Atletico Madrid for China, where he is making a manageable £170,000 to do what he does so well – score goals and create chances from the wings.

The transfer fee, now that he is several years older and only rocking out in the Chinese Super League, looks to be a fraction of what he was once going for, meaning that, for broke clubs like Arsenal, he is starting to look more and more realistic.

All in all, handing a player who has played at the top tier of European football a second chance at returning to where he was once a productive member, isn’t a bad idea. In fact, it’s pretty smart.

The fact that Carrasco wants to return at all means that he is probably craving the competitiveness of top-tier competition over the allure of more money. That’s a good thing. Most players that go to China, stay there. But Carrasco doesn’t want to.

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However, it’s not that easy. Because it can never be that easy.

Despite the reports that Arsenal are now in pole position to bring Carrasco back to prominence, there is still one hang-up with convincing him to leave China. And I bet you can’t guess what it is. Just kidding, you absolutely can – it’s money.

The modest £170,000 wages that he is making in China are apparently unable to replicate with the Gunners, who are broke and unable to offer anything remotely resembling acceptable wages as long as Ozil is making twice as much as everyone else on the club and playing and producing half as much.

The summer may change things, as has been previously discussed. If the Adidas deal kicks in the funds we need, then I’ll shut up and recant all of this, but in the mean time, it’s a shame to see that even fiscally sensible moves like going after Carrasco or Denis Suarez are being ruled out because of piss-poor financial management.

Welcome to the Emery era. Which doesn’t actually begin until his people undo the knot of of tangled fund allocation.