The haunted look in Mikel Arteta's eyes on the last afternoon of last season told you that Arsenal was going to take his next search for the title of the Premier League by the neck.
Do not be satisfied. We want more than this, “he told the club's fans that they were delayed in the Emirates after seeing Arsenal ending as a runner -up for a second consecutive season.
That afternoon bathed in the sun came to mind when the miserable lack of planning of the club led them to offer for Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa, simply a week before the end of the transfer window.
Watkins maneuvers on Monday really had everything. An insultingly low offer, according to the reports, £ 45 million, made to a direct rival, at a time when everyone knew that Al-Nassr's Saudites were about to offer Villa more than 62 million for Jhon Duran. Well, they say that time is the secret of good comedy.
The Arsenal has irritated rivals with low offers for their strikers before. It is more than a decade, since they offered £ 40 million plus £ 1 for Luis Suárez, after Liverpool, having learned of a purchase clause of £ 40 million in their contract.
Liverpool was so incandescent that even the main owner John W Henry joined the choir. 'What do you think smoke there in the Emirates?' He said at that time.
Arsenal made an insultingly low offer for Ollie Watkins and has been too slow to move for him
Aston Villa remains inflexible that they will not sell to Jhon Duran and Watkins, and the first one looks at Arabia Arabia.
Mikel Arteta told Arsenal fans to wait better, but their efforts to buy a striker have been poor
I could well ask what they are smoking in the Arsenal at this time, since the need for the club of an elite striker, a story as old as the hills, has been critical of the absence of months of Bukayo Saka through an injury, and Gabriel Jesús Saka aside.
At least, an offer by Watkins in early January would have been prudent. There was no such urgency. The lack of injuries enraged the cracks last season, when Arsenal unlikely 91 goals from the Premier League, most in a season, but evidently fostered the deception that the winning teams of the title do not require a front -class center center.
There, absolutely available for them last summer, it was Ivan Toney de Brentford, who, 28 years old and will soon be out of contract, considered too expensive at a price of £ 50 million.
Arsenal could also have moved for Watkins at that time, since it offers its squad a point of difference: playing outside the shoulder of the last defender while it is also great in the air; He has scored more with his head than anyone Harry Kane since 2020.
Nor has he hidden exactly his desire to play for the club.
“I mean, yes, that is the dream: playing for Arsenal someday,” Watkins said in 2020, when asked about his aspirations.
When Toney addressed Saudi for wages of £ 400,000 per net week, Arsenal did not move the sky and earth to sign Watkins, wearing Viktor Gyokeres de Lisbon or Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig.
The complacency of this type is always the enemy of the clubs that are thriving in football. Graeme Souness related on this platform only a few weeks ago that the coaches of the Liverpool team winner of the series trophy for which he played were “were never completely happy with the group they had and that was a large part of their success throughout the decades “.
It is a reminiscence of its £ 40 million + £ 1 approach for Luis Suárez in Liverpool in 2013
They would not extend to £ 50 million for Ivan Toney, so he went to Al-Ahli of Saudi Arabia
Alexander Isak is the ultimate goal, but it will cost around £ 120 million next summer, leaving them in cash in
Arsenal's failure to assure a striker outside and outside is worrying and smells like complacency
Arsenal could have used a dose of that mentality last summer.
Then, with Manchester City, the arsenal is finally seen in the panic stations, desperately looking for the striker they will need to challenge Liverpool.
They have been watching Yane Wissa de Brentford, in Mathys Tel by Bayern Munich, in Wolves' Matheus Cunha and in Sesko again, but the price that is placed in each of them is, of course, substantial and that is a long thought Term: Jam Tomorrow, don't goals today.
Alexander Isak of Newcastle is the only one that Arsenal really wants, and that will be at a probable cost of £ 120 million next summer, but that leaves them encased, trying to find a striker who works with Isak or as his support in the Future, however, delivers objectives in the meantime.
That offer for Suarez in 2013 had consequences for a player whose head was everywhere for a while, but decided not to press for the transfer to the Emirates, fearing the reaction of Liverpool fans who had supported him through a controversy For racism.
It is not clear if Watkins would feel the same with his own club. A second offer from Arsenal for him can be imminent, but Villa is not categorically willing to sell to his two star strikers in the same week.
Again, Arteta says she is not satisfied. 'We lack options in advance. That is clear, “he said Wednesday night after the 2-1 victory in the Champions League over Girona. Such are the consequences of reading the market badly and not foreseeing the challenges ahead.