It’s transfer rumour season and it’s fun discussing who could be going where; more specifically who could be leaving Arsenal and who could be coming to Emirates.
But some of the names being linked with Arsenal are simply unbelievable. My heart stopped for a moment earlier this week when rumours surfaced that Angel Di Maria was a transfer target for Arsenal.
Wow! The whole Copa America final, apart from being about Lionel Messi, was between Di Maria and Alexis Sanchez and that dictated for the most part which side local Man United and Arsenal fans supported between Argentina and Chile.
But to think that at the time somebody somewhere at Arsenal was looking at Di Maria becoming a Gunner, is heart-warming.
Despite the fact he didn’t have a great season at Old Trafford by a long shot and that he couldn’t complete the final at Copa America, he is still one of the most wanted wingers in Europe right now. I’m not just saying that because Arsenal have an interest in him; I would still say it if he remained at United.
But here’s the catch - a price tag of nearly £60 million (Sh9.28bn) has been put on Di Maria by United and we all know that despite his average season last term, United would never sell such a player to such a big rival as Arsenal.
On top of that he earns £280,000 (Sh43.3m) per week; an amount that Arsenal is still light years from paying any player.
And finally both Bayern Munich and PSG are interested in the player so there ends my dream. It was nice while it lasted but this is how the next seven weeks or so will be; all about dreams of what might be; only for the 31st of August to dawn on us and our dreams are crushed.
I won’t be so disappointed if we don’t land Di Maria because we have a rather impressive attack minded midfield already.
In other transfer news Davis Ospina could be heading to Everton while hopes of Joel Campbell ever coming back from loan to become an Arsenal legend are being dashed.
He’s allegedly about to disappear to Besiktas for good which is a little sad. I really thought the youngster had promise and could have probably been retained for Cup tournaments or for one more loan season elsewhere before coming back to Emirates to shine. I guess that dream is looking less likely to ever come true.
Dreams – that’s what the next two months or so will be about. We’ll watch our EPL teams going through their pre-seasons and because we’ll play inferior teams, we’ll win most of the competitions we play in.
We’ll become hopeful that any injuries or departed players will be replaced; but in our case at Arsenal our expectations shouldn’t be too high. We have a great squad; we expect a bit of tweaking; but even if it doesn’t happen, we are still a force to reckon with.
And if our pre-season doesn’t go well; there’s still time to repair things. As usual, I’m hopeful.
Talk to me on @CarolRadull on twitter or www.facebook.com/CarolRadull