Creativity is the Ultimate Piece of a Very Convincing Jigsaw Puzzle

But, Because it’s Arsenal, There Will Always be Some Big Hitters

Lionel Messi is coming to the Emirates.

Only joking, of course. Just wanted to sneak that in there. There’s absolutely no reason that the greatest player in the history of football has been linked to Arsenal. Super Stan’s deep pockets are the only reason the connection abounds, but those pockets are sewn shut. Moving onwards, swiftly.

And hey, while we’re at it, let’s bin that Thiago Alcantara rumor. He doesn’t want to play Europa League football after winning the UCL. Not a snowball’s chance.

On a more realistic level, Houssem Aouar has replaced Thomas Partey in the hearts of many Arsenal fans, and everybody and their grandmother is quoting £45m as the price. Arsenal tried to cobble together £23m plus Guendouzi, and Lyon actually responded, saying that they really like Guendouzi, but are looking to raise capital this summer.

And so, £45m is the reported solution. Voices out of Aouar’s camp say he wants to make a move to the Premier League this summer, and we understand that he is trying to engineer a move to one of the Manchester clubs, Arsenal, or Liverpool.

The Frenchman recently tested positive for COVID-19, along with multiple other members of the France squad. I’m oddly hopeful that his diagnosis could cause some sort of breakthrough, as the virus tends to leave tumultuous relationships wherever it touches down, and Arsenal have a proud history of taking advantage of fractured relationships between players and their parent clubs.

And while their names aren’t in contention, players like Marcel Sabitzer and Christopher Nkunku of RB Leipzig, along with Pablo Sarabia of PSG, and – ironically – long-time Arsenal link Nabil Fekir could be very fun, if Arsenal are looking to actually loosen the purse strings a little.

The fact that filling the creative role isn’t a do-or-die necessity for the squad is an amazing thing, but if we hope to achieve the heights we’d like to this season – Champions League football anybody? – then we need to find an external solution.