Arsenal still haunted by ghost of David Dein 14 years on

If David Dein Had Stayed at Arsenal

One can’t help but wonder how many similar deals just didn’t get made when Wenger went without anyone looking over his shoulder for all those years. Steven N’Zonzi going to Seville from Stoke for a paltry £7m comes to mind right away; especially considering the fact N’Zonzi ran roughshod through Arsenal’s doughy soft midfield for years.

N’Zonzi only went on to win several Europa league titles and a World Cup. Arsenal on the other hand, still doesn’t have its midfield sorted out. This isn’t to say that David Dein would have gotten Steven N’Zonzi…but he certainly would have gotten someone to bring some steel to the midfield. Wenger did neither.

It’s also impossible to imagine Dein signing off on the disastrous multi-year contract extensions that were lavished on the likes of the mind-numbingly arrogant Nicklas Bendtner, the perennially under-achieving Theo Walcott and the permanently crocked Abou Diaby. All these deals shackled the club financially for years.

From a footballing perspective, these contracts were simply unjustifiable and quite frankly they’d never have been made by any clear-eyed sporting executive. But alas, Wenger had a soft spot for his prospects that blinded him to the realities of their very obvious limitations. For all his nous as a manager, Wenger and Dick Law were as helpless as babes in the woods when it came to transfers and contracts and the club suffered mightily for it. Kroenke’s absenteeism only exacerbated this problem.

However, Arsenal’s front office issues didn’t end with Wenger and he can’t be blamed for the multiple disasters that have unfolded since his departure.

In spite of Wenger having been replaced as transfer boss, the club is still suffering and appears to be playing the same reactive game it did under Wenger and Law. By the middle of last season, a blind man could see that Arsenal was in desperate need of a full-time playmaker. If Emi Buendia was the preferred target, why wasn’t a bid submitted the day after the season ended? Why on Earth would Edu sit around and allow Aston Villa into the bidding?

Again, this is the kind of thing that quite simply never happened under Dein. Would he have allowed an agent’s fee to stand between the club and N’Golo Kante? Would he have allowed Mesut Ozil to hold the club to ransom? Would he have allowed agents like Kia Joorabchian to turn Arsenal into their own personal ATM machine? No, no and no.

A three-year deal at £200k-per-week for a 32-year-old Willian? The Brazilian would sooner walk across the English Channel without getting his feet wet than he could get that deal from Dein.

Now, the past is the past and it’s obvious that Dein will not be returning; even in the unlikely event that Stan Kroenke sells the team. That doesn’t mean, however, that Edu can’t learn from Dein’s example.

Considering the fact that this is the most important transfer window in Arsenal history, Edu would be well served by studying and emulating the work of the best sporting executive Arsenal ever had. Because the cold hard truth is, there will be no more magic on the pitch for Arsenal fans until the missing magic of Dein in the boardroom is rediscovered.