Adrian Lopez has been on Wenger’s wish list
The January transfer window is upon Arsene Wenger. The season is halfway through which means that the manager should have a very good idea of who he needs to bring in to make that push for the final CL spot. Which obviously also means that we’re treated to statements like this which tell you precisely very little:
“I will be active, yes,” he said. “We are looking everywhere. We are open-minded. We want to strengthen the squad everywhere.”
Adrian Lopez joins the list of players linked with Arsenal as the players in the past, present, or future not linked with Arsenal grows much, much smaller. Let’s see who we already have for this window:
Nani, Demba Ba, Thierry Henry, Yann M’Villa, Etienne Capoue, Wilfred Zaha, Luke Shaw, David Villa, Fernando Llorente, Wesley Sneijder, Kevin Strootman, Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Simone Mignolet, Yoann Gourcuff, Adrian Lopez, and surely many others.
Here is reality: We still have Marouane Chamakh, Andrey Arshavin, Sebastian Squillaci, Johan Djourou, on the bench who will not be played but continue to eat up wages that no other club can afford. There are no suitors rushing to sign them up. Then there are those who cannot be injury free for the love of money which include Abou Diaby, Lukacz Fabianski, and Tomas Roiscky. Of these three only the last mentioned has been cleared to play.
Adrian Lopez will not join. He has a £14m release clause which Arsenal are reluctant to trigger.