Arsenal: Every single reason why Philippe Coutinho is a bad idea

5. Loans don’t work like this

According to the rumor, along with his astronomical price tag (more on that later), there is also the option to loan him with an option to buy. I spoke very highly of loans and, for the most part, I still do. It’s a chance to try out a product before you buy it. That’s great. Maybe we find out Coutinho doesn’t work out, we can just send him back. That’s great.

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But it also means we wasted more time plugging a gap that we knew needed to be plugged with a guy that wasn’t going to be a long-term solution anyway simply because he isn’t the right kind of player.

The reason why the Dani Ceballos loan worked (or would have worked) is that he’s a young player who fits the exact billing of what we need and who we wanted to see how well he could acclimate before we spent gobs of money on him.

It’s been a mixed bag, but for that reason, the loan is working. It’s giving us something to think about. Even if Coutinho thrives, I can’t imagine the logic in dumping tons of cash on him. Which, since we’re on the topic, let me just go ahead and stop beating around the bush and get to the point.