Manuel Locatelli has joined Juventus instead of Arsenal, and while it’s not all that surprising to hear that Juve have beaten the Gunners to a signing, some details that have emerged are quite alarming.
Indeed, the Italian has reportedly sacrificed €10m in earnings in choosing the Italian side over Arsenal, and if that is true, alarm bells have to be ringing at the Emirates.
It’s one thing to not be able to compete financially, and believe us, that’s a situation Arsenal have been in before, but it’s another issue entirely when a player is turning down good money to join your club.
Arsenal apparently offered Locatelli double what Juventus put forward, and he still chose to join the Old Lady, and to be honest, who can blame him?
Juventus have some of the best players in the world and are going to be competing for the top honours once again this season.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have been a mid-table club for the past few years, and that doesn’t look like changing anytime soon.
Of course, Juventus also have the benefit of being Locatelli’s boyhood club but an extra £8.6m should be enough to put any club allegiances to one side.
Edu gets a lot of flak for the work he does in the transfer window, but he’s done a good job in identifying Locatelli here.
The question has to be asked; what’s the point of identifying these quality targets if they’re just going to shoot Arsenal down?
Locatelli would have been a great signing. In fact, Fabrizio Romano claimed that Arsenal thought he was ‘perfect’, but because the Gunners’ stature can’t match up with Juve’s these days, Locatelli turned down a move to the Emirates, despite the big money on offer.
Edu can only do so much. In this case, he’s identified a quality player and offered him a great financial package, but it still wasn’t enough.
If Arsenal truly want to get back amongst Europe’s elite, results first need to improve on the pitch before they can think about signing these Champions League quality players.
In terms of getting results, the onus is on the manager to make that happen, and thus far in Mikel Arteta’s managerial career, he hasn’t been able to.
Edu needs Arteta to start helping him by getting results, and until that starts happening, Arsenal may continue to be turned down by this type of player, even if they offer them a ludicrous pay package.
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