Arsenal: Jordan Veretout was absolutely never a “flop”

Arsenal are supposedly making a late drive into the Jordan Veretout transfer lane, and that’s just fine, this “flop” business is ridiculous.

Arsenal‘s list of potential transfer targets is proving to be pretty accurate, with a lot of names that were linked early still in the works, with bids and rumors of bids, offers and rumors of improved offers. And Jordan Veretout is just the latest to follow through in that sense.

Veretout was supposedly on the brink of joining Napoli when the Gunners swooped in with a hearty £20m bid.

There’s a reason why not that many people are as excited about Veretout as I am, and that reason is the very brief year he spent at Aston Villa in the 2015/16 season, in which he was thrown on a sinking ship and wasn’t able to keep them above water. How dare he.

As such, every outlet is referring to Veretout as that one “flop,” making it sound like the Gunners are certifiable for wanting to sign him up as anything more than a beer vendor.

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But here’s the thing – that Aston Villa club was one of the worst we’ve ever seen. They were just one point above the Huddersfield and sucked up the Premier League this year. They gave up just as many goals and only scored a handful more.

Veretout played 1800 minutes, chipped in five assists, and got the hell out of town.

Since then, he’s been averaging 3000 minutes a season and added 16 goals and eight assists in his three years away from Aston Villa, around a competent set-up that isn’t doomed to fail. He plays great defensive football, he doesn’t get shaken off the ball easily and he’s no stranger to creating chances and being an otherwise reliable player in a healthy club set-up.

He was never a flop. He was on a limp team that put forth a horrific effort and now he’s being unfairly ousted as a Premier League failure because he wasn’t given the time or the resources to be anything else.

What if we had sold Granit Xhaka after a year? He’d have been a flop. But because we gave him time to develop, as literally all players require, he has proven to be a standout performer.

Nah, spare me the name-calling. Veretout would be a great addition to Arsenal Football Club. He’s the kind of midfielder we need to start repairing the damage that Aaron Ramsey‘s exit left.