Kevin Campbell told Claude and Bansta’s that there was ‘no chance’ that Arsenal were going to sign Hakim Ziyech.
The former striker, who also works as a pundit for Sky Sports, insisted that even though Arsenal have ‘wealthy’ owners, they never stood a chance in beating Chelsea to his signature.
Instead, Ziyech made a £33 million [Sky Sports] summer switch to Stamford Bridge, and after injury prevented him from playing during the opening weeks, he has now started like a house on fire.
It was put to Gunners legend Campbell about why Arsenal didn’t sign Ziyech and he made it clear that it was never going to happen because of who is upstairs.
“There is no way we could have signed Ziyech,” said Campbell. “No way! No chance. He would go to Chelsea because of the money.
“It doesn’t matter [how rich the owner is]. It’s the football club. This is the other thing because the owner is wealthy, the owner has missed the window where he could have lumped in hundreds of millions of pounds and kept us right at the top.
“So, he has missed that window! We know that Usmanov wanted to do it but they soon got him out. That’s a massive opportunity missed there from upstairs. Ziyech, he might like Arsenal. He might like it but he went to Chelsea!”
Whether it’s Ziyech or Houssem Aouar, the North London club need that technical and more creative player in their final third.
Whilst Arsenal managed to get the Thomas Partey deal over the line, they don’t have many players who can complement the aggressive minded number six.
It will be interesting to see, amid the calls for Mesut Ozil to be recalled in January, whether the owners will back Arteta and allow him to bring in his own creative mind in the middle of the pitch when the window re-opens.
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