Arsenal: Standing ground fine, up to a point

Arsenal are reportedly standing firm in negotiations for Yannick Carrasco and Ryan Fraser. Being firm on the price is fine, but only up to a point.

Arsenal have been searching hard for a new winger. With Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan manning the wide positions last season with mixed success at best, Unai Emery sees the roles as key needs that require substantial investment this summer.

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A month into the transfer window and their search led them to two key names: Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser and Dalian Yifang’s Yannick Carrasco. Both players are interested in a move to north London. Both clubs are willing to sell, for the right price. Both deals are plausible. But it seems as though there is a problem. And, predictably, it revolves around price.

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According to the London Evening Standard, Arsenal’s moves for both Carrasco and Fraser are stalling with the two selling clubs looking for fees in the region of £30 million, a price that the Gunners are not prepared to meet. In both cases, they were hoping to secure a deal for closer to £20 million. Unwilling to bend to the whims of the seller, Emery and his staff are now beginning to look for other, alternative options.

Standing firm on price is understandable. Neither Carrasco nor Fraser are of the quality or calibre that would convince any team to drop everything and go to any lengths they can to sign them. This is not like chasing a Mesut Ozil or Alexis Sanchez. They are decent players, yes, but their utility is very much attached to their price, and £30 million significantly diminishes the value of either signing.

With that line of thinking, Arsenal standing firm and being unwilling to bend on their price makes sense. But that logic is only accurate up to a point. It is, obviously, important that you negotiate for what you believe is a smart, fair price, getting the best deal possible on any potential target, but if this standing firm leaves you lurching, lacking a suitable solution to a clear problem, it can very quickly backfire.

This is especially true in the modern era. Prices are explosively high and value is difficult to find. Sometimes, you have to overpay to address a particular need. Liverpool overpaid to sign Virgil van Dijk, for instance, but 18 months later, he was a key reason why they won their sixth Champions League. You could make the same argument for Alisson Becker.

If the player that you are targetting really is worth the hassle, you will be willing to bend on price. The fact that Arsenal are taking such a hard line in the negotiations suggests to me that they were not especially bowled over by either Fraser or Carrasco in the first place. And that is a little concerning.

Negotiating hard and getting the best price possible is all well and good, but if it comes at the expense of filling a severe need, it does not best serve the building of the squad. Sometimes, you have to pay up. Whether Carrasco and Fraser are worth paying up for, however, is another question altogether.