What Exactly is Happening at the Emirates Stadium?

With just days to the 2013-14 English Premier League, it is certainly not a good time to be identified as a Gooner. Arsenal fans around the world are closely monitoring the summer transfer window, perhaps much more than anyone else. They scurry from one soccer website to another in a vain search for the latest transfer news news about the club. But instead of hearing cheering news about the latest high-profile player in Arsene Wenger's summer shopping list, all they hear of is the protracted Luis Suarez transfer debacle.


The controversial Uruguayan forward's transfer seems to be hanging by a thread as his present club, Liverpool, are not willing to let him go except Arsenal meet their 50 million pounds valuation of the player. The Gunners have already triggered the £40 million release clause in his contract by tabling that sum before the Merseysiders and topping it with a rather misery 1 pound. But Liverpool were not and are still not impressed with Arsenal's bid and they would be having non of it.

This is coming in an era where Real Madrid are breaking the bank with an over £100 million bid for Gareth Bale services and Barcelona have already coughed out 57 million euros for Brazilian starlet, Neymar. Premier League rivals like Chelsea and Manchester City have also not been left out. The former has spent £29 million so far this summer, while City have spent more than £98 million and are still willing to spend more. Arsenal has spent £0, yet they have the team that needs rejuvenation the most.

The people at the helm of affairs at the Emirates seem not to be bothered (at least in the eyes of average Arsenal fans) by the club's relative inactivity in the transfer market. This is going on while their nearest rivals in the league, Tottenham Hotspur, are busy acquiring as many players as they can lay their hands on. More and more players are cruising pass the boulevards of Drayton Park to sign lucrative contracts at  the White Hart Lane. Spurs have so far added the likes of 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup star Paulinho to their ranks and manager, Andre Villas-Boas, has hinted that more are on their way should the transfer of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid be sealed on time. This is despite the fact that they've spent nearly £58 million already. The Arsenal executives can only help but admire the new arrivals at their city rivals from the windows of Highbury House.

But it is not entirely true that the Gunners have been inactive in this transfer window. Well, ironically, most of the activities at the club as far as this transfer window is concerned involve player going the other way. Instead of coming in, experienced - though underperforming - playing staff have been leaving in their numbers. Andre Arshavin (their record signing) and Sébastien Squillaci have been told that their services are no longer needed at the club. Players like Johan Djourou, Denilson, Vito Mannone, André Santos and Francis Coquelin have either been loaned out or have moved on to pastures new.

Gonzalo Higuain, Napoli

While the Emirates exit door has become crowded of late, only one player has made his way through the arrivals. And that man is French centre forward (yes a French player again!) Yaya Sanogo. But not a penny was spent on him. The 20-year-old kid from the city of Massy in France, who many Arsenal fans might not have heard of until his arrival, was quickly snapped up by Arsene Wenger from Auxerre once he found out that he was available of a free transfer. But this is not the kind of transfer news Arsenal fans want to hear and it's not the big summer signing they've been yearning for. They want to see a new established player at the Emirates at the beginning of next season, not some rookie from the French second division, Ligue 2.

Talking of big summer signings, the Gunners have already missed out on a number of targets they had identified earlier on. Gonzalo Higuain recently snubbed the Gunners and chose to ply his trade in the famed Italian city of Naples instead. Arsenal's earliest target, Stevan Jovetic, has since joined Premier League rivals, Manchester City.

Reluctance to spend has been singled out as the reason why Arsenal lost out on those players and the fans have become ill at ease with the way things are going. And Arsene Wenger was at it again today, getting on the nerves of Arsenal fans the world over when he claimed that Arsenal can win the EPL without Luis Suarez.

Wenger in his words: "I am confident. Why should I sit here and say to you that we can absolutely not win the title with the players we have?"

He made those comments after a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Napoli at the Emirates in the Emirates Cup (which some Arsenal fans has claimed to be the only trophy the Gunners are realistically in contention for).

How much longer Gooners will have to wait before they vent their anger somewhere other than on the internet is anyone's guess.