"Plenty of strikers can score goals," he said, gesturing to the famous old stands casting shadows around us.
"But a lot have found it difficult wearing the number 9 shirt for The Arsenal."
Well, yes. And, no.
I reckon if a player is good enough for us to offer a hundred million quid for him, then the player probably feels he is good enough to be playing for Real Madrid. But now that everybody believes we have a hundred million quid to spend, that will also be the price for almost anyone else we want, who, of course, may or not be actually good enough for us. Either way, we are forced to look elsewhere, for worse.
Hence: Danny Welbeck, for example.
"Plenty of strikers can score goals," he said, gesturing to the famous old stands casting shadows around us.
"But a lot have found it difficult wearing the number 9 shirt for The Arsenal."
Yes, it does. That is why we are reluctant to spend it on such a player; we can't really afford for it not to work out, footballistically as well.
It's easy to justify Mesut's price tag but a fifty million pound striker who (for whatever reason) only scored as often as Danny Welbeck would be a disaster for us. For that sort of money, we'd demand Alan Smith or Thierry Henry.
"Plenty of strikers can score goals," he said, gesturing to the famous old stands casting shadows around us.
"But a lot have found it difficult wearing the number 9 shirt for The Arsenal."