Arsenal: Denis Suarez foreshadows a painful summer mess

Denis Suarez has left Arsenal with a groin injury ruling him out of the remainder of the season. His signing foreshadows a potential summer transfer market mess.

Arsenal were panicking. Danny Welbeck was out for the season. Henrikh Mkhitaryan had just injured his foot. Alex Iwobi was the only wide player in the squad, and even his form was beginning to wear a little thin. Help was needed. But money to sign that help was nowhere to be seen, Unai Emery himself conceding that no permanent transfers could be made.

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In desperation, they turned to Denis Suarez, a six-month loan deal eventually agreed with Barcelona. He, it was hoped, would at least be another body to throw at the winger endemic. Not so. Suarez would play a total of 95 minutes before announcing his departure from north London, his season ending with a groin injury.

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Injuries happen and there is nothing that can be done to stop them, but the Suarez signing will still be considered one of the worst in the club’s history. Even in the one game’s worth of action he did feature in, he consistently looked off the pace and rarely provided the attacking spark that Emery was expecting. Over £3 million in loan fees and wages wasted.

What is most concerning, however, is what the Suarez calamity foreshadows for the future, especially this summer. In a scathing piece published by The Daily Telegraph late Monday night by Matt Law, in which Emery and Arsenal are heavily criticised for their late-season capitulation and lack of behind-the-scenes, structural preparation for the summer ahead, one paragraph jumped out at me:

"“Sven Mislintat left his job as head of recruitment in February, having had no say in the disastrous January loan signing of midfielder Denis Suarez, who has confirmed he will leave the Gunners without starting a single game due to a season-ending groin injury.”"

In the same piece, Law states that it was Emery who pushed hard to sign Suarez, having worked with him at Sevilla. With other options difficult to find, the club duly obliged, once Barcelona agreed to an option to buy, rather than an obligation to buy, clause. The departure of Sven Mislintat as head of recruitment still has not been addressed. It could derail the club.

Law also claims that Emery and head of football Raul Sanllehi have been planning for the summer market. This is the most troubling aspect of the Suarez move. Transfers go wrong. Injuries happen. But from the get-go, this was the wrong decision. Not only was it borne out of necessity because of a poorly assembled squad from the previous summer, but the player that arrived never looked capable of contributing to the team, as Barcelona, who were equally as desperate to offload him in any way possible, already understood.

If Emery and Sanllehi’s track record is anything to go by, them being in charge of what moves are made and not made this summer is not a good thing for Arsenal football club. Their track record is not the best. Even the positive signings that were made last summer can largely be attributed to Mislintat — he was certainly championing moves for Bernd Leno, Sokratis and Lucas Torreira.

The Suarez mess is frustrating. But it happens. Things go wrong in football. But the decision to sign him in the first place never seemed like the right move. And those that made that decision are still in charge now. That casts a foreboding shadow indeed.