Arsenal rejected world-class CF for just £7m, now he's worth more than Saka

There is no escaping it: this season is turning into a nightmare for Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta’s side are a distant second in the Premier League, out of the FA Cup and League Cup and in the midst of an injury crisis, so while there is still a chance that they could lift the Champions League come June, it’s an incredibly distant one.

Kai Havertz is the latest player to suffer a hamstring injury and is set to be out for the rest of the season, meaning that the manager will be without what is arguably his first-choice frontline, as Gabriel Martinelli, and Bukayo Saka are both sidelined as well.

This recent bombshell makes the club’s decision not to sign anyone last month look particularly puzzling.

That said, they’re no strangers to getting things wrong in the winter window, especially as a player they could have picked up for cheap in January 2019 but refused to work out a deal for the summer prior is now worth millions more than Havertz and Saka.

Arsenal’s 2019 winter transfers

So, while Arsenal decided against signing a player who’d go on to be worth a king’s ransom, it must have been because they were splashing the cash on someone to help strengthen the first team for new boss Unai Emery, right?

Well, as fans will probably remember, that was very much not the case, as aside from promoting Eddie Nketiah to the first team, the only signing the Gunners made in January 2019 was Barcelona midfielder Denis Suarez, who joined on loan.

However, it gets worse, as the Spaniard would make just six appearances for the club, totalling 95 minutes, in which he failed to score or assist a goal, later revealing that he was only 50% fit during his time in the capital.

In short, Suarez’s stint with Arsenal was nothing short of a disaster and yet another example of the club failing to do adequate business in January, made worse only by the fact they missed the chance to sign a future megastar who moved for a bargain fee that same summer.

The megastar Arsenal missed out on

Arsenal have missed out on their fair share of superstars in the past, with plenty of stories detailing how they could have signed the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimović, Kylian Mbappé or Cristiano Ronaldo, but in this instance, it’s a superstar who is still terrorising them today.

According to former Molde scout John Vik, the Gunners were one of a few top teams who could have got their hands on Erling Haaland before he made his £7m move to RB Salzburg in January 2019.

Vik explains that “Arsenal could have got him,” but like so many of the other Premier League sides interested at the time, they simply saw the Norwegian prospect as a big target man.

Unfortunately, the Gunners’ hierarchy has since been proven very wrong, as the Leeds-born phenomenon has been utterly sensational for every club he’s played for.

For example, he racked up a tally of 29 goals and seven assists in 27 games for Salzburg, 86 goals and 23 assists in 89 games for Borussia Dortmund, and currently has a staggering 117 goals and 16 assists in 132 games for Manchester City.

Moreover, the “prolific” centre-forward, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has made a real habit out of scoring against Arteta’s side, racking up four goals and two assists in eight games, although only three of those have ended in victory for him.

Such an incredibly upward trajectory has understandably impacted his valuation, with Transfermarkt now valuing him at a whopping €200m, which is about £167m.

For context, Transfermarkt values Saka at €150m and Havertz at €75m, which converts to about £125m and £63m, respectively.

Ultimately, Arsenal are no strangers to missing out on talented players – it happens to all top teams – but considering their own striker problems at the moment and the way he’s constantly scored against them, missing out on Haaland might sting just that little bit more.

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