ARSENAL RISKING RUIN BY WAITING ON SUAREZ TRANSFER

The latest development on Luis Suarez and his transfer to Arsenal is that Arsene Wenger is apparently prepared to wait Liverpool out in the football equivalent of a staring competition. The Frenchman is definitely good at this game and has good reasons to believe he will win, but I cannot help feeling it is too big a risk to take.

Apparently there is still confusion over this clause in the Uruguayan’s contract, which might be resolved in our favour. This would mean that Arsenal have already bid enough to force Liverpool to sell. This would save the club money and Wenger would be proved right, but it also might not be resolved in our favour.

There is just over four weeks to go before the transfer window slams shut, and Suarez cannot play in the Premier League until after that anyway, so there is no urgency on that front. The problem is that the closer to the window closing we get, Liverpool will have less time to use the proceeds of the sale to sign new players, so they could decide to dig their heels in and keep Suarez, leaving Arsenal with no new striker other than Sanogo.

I am worried that, by putting all our eggs in one basket could come back to bite(sorry) us on the arse, or arm(sorry again). With three years left on his contract, Suarez will be worth just as much in January or next summer, so Liverpool will not lose out in the long term by refusing to sell this summer. They will not want an unhappy player at the club, but are clearly not impressed with the £40 million offer, whereas another 10 would probably make up their minds for them.

The other problem is that, if we wait too long, all of the other possible strikers will have been snapped up. The best like Cavani and Falcao have already gone, while the next level like Negredo and Soldado are going fast. Napoli may have paid over the odds for Higuain and they could be about to add Martinez from Porto for nearly 40 million euros, again too much, but will their fans care when they are smashing the goals in?

Wenger has saved Arsenal fortunes in the transfer market for years, I think it is time he swallowed his pride and took a hit on this one. To be honest, if Gareth Bale is going to fetch over £80 million, Suarez is well worth £50 million. Remember, Arsene, it is not your money.