Arsenal: 3 things Willian and Chris Smalling have in common

2. Cast-offs from rivals

Even before David Luiz and Petr Cech, I really didn’t like the idea of slurping up the sloppy seconds of our rivals. If someone isn’t good enough for Chelsea, or Manchester United, or Manchester City, they shouldn’t be good enough for us.

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Now there are exceptions to that, obviously. If a player just isn’t being used right, then, of course, we can swoop in and give them the opportunity they deserve (Leroy Sane please and thank you). But if Chelsea has moved on from Willian, and Manchester United have already moved on from Smalling, then what business do we have picking at their remains like vultures?

We have a lot of players to be excited about at this club. A lot of guys that we are building from the ground up, that can be turned into the kind of players that our rivals dream of having. There’s no point propping up hollow skeletons of former rivals like scarecrows, seeing how much mileage we can get out of them.

Finally, the all-important No. 1.