Wenger Not Signing Schneiderlin

Desperate talk of Arsenal’s need for a defensive midfielder had quietened somewhat since the return of Francis Coquelin from his loan at Charlton. Coquelin’s emergence as a viable option in the deepest midfield role has been a pleasant surprise but not as surprising as how much it had quenched the online thirst for a new player

In a breathtaking display of fickleness – as fans of all clubs are prone to – the ignominious loss to Spurs has left the Arsenal Twittersphere parched and in critical need of a wet dose of DM.

This renewed fervour for a physical presence in midfield brought to mind a recent conversation I participated in about the most popular candidate to fill this ‘gap’ in the squad – Morgan Schneiderlin.

I will preface what I am about to say with I think Morgan Schneiderlin – or as he is annoyingly referred to by some Arsenal fans ‘Morgs’ – is a fine player and quality Premier League performer. If he was to join he would improve our squad.

However, the point of this article and my recent conversation about the Southampton man is that I do not believe he will ever be an Arsenal player. I am not privy to any inside information and this is entirely my interpretation of the “facts” and information available to me. My interpretation is no more accurate or inaccurate than the belief of those that he will join and of course time will tell but it goes without saying I suspect that I will be retrospectively proven right.

There are those who believe he will join and act as though they know something the rest of us don’t yet can only produce conflicting newspaper reports as their evidence. To make my point I will be using newspaper articles too so there’s a touch of irony there but I feel my belief is in a different realm to categorically stating he will join – like Cesc and Rooney last summer 😉

I think my issue with the newspaper evidence provided to ratify the assertions he will definitely be joining or has veritably held discussions with Arsenal is it is based on journalistic licence – ahem, lying/deliberately misreporting the facts, cough cough – with player quotes.

My view is that the newspapers have picked up on how much the Arsenal supporters like him and what a convenient target he is being a quality French player specialising in a position Arsenal have required strengthening in for some time and have run with it for the clicks.

At every given opportunity they’ve linked us to him and I don’t believe that is because we are interested I believe it is because people want to click on articles that tells them Arsenal is interested in a player they rate. It just seems a little too easy to say Arsenal are interested and often there is little to no elaboration.

I believe there is little to no interest because if there was I think Wenger would have done something long before now. The urban legend goes that Wenger recommended 19 year old Schneiderlin to Southampton in much the same way he recommended Wilson Palacios to Steve Bruce.

At the time Morgan joined Southampton we were full flow into ‘project youth’ and at just £1.2m he reeked of a typical Wenger signing. Gilberto had just been sold, Flamini had left on a free and Wenger had just signed two young midfielders by the names of Ramsey and Nasri. Denilson and Song played 99 games between them that season so it stands to reason there was room for another young player – alternatively Wenger could have bought him and loaned him out yet he chose to pass altogether.

There is the suggestion that Wenger wanted – like with Palacios – to see how well he adapted to English football before making his move but he has had 6 years in which to make another move and Arsenal have needed a player in that position for at least 4 of those 6 years when we haven’t had players flattering to deceive.

To me it stands to reason that whilst Wenger thinks he is an excellent player – as evidenced by his many responses to questioning on his interest in his compatriot – he may not be convinced by his suitability for a role at Arsenal. That will be contended by many and I’m not for a second suggesting he isn’t good enough for Arsenal or that Wenger doesn’t think he is good enough just that I believe he thinks he isn’t the man he is looking for.

A theme I’ve seen with many of Arsène’s choices at defensive midfield is their adaptability to fill in as a centre-halve or full-back – roles I’m not sure Schneiderlin is best suited to having been utilised in a slightly more advanced role (that doesn’t mean attacking midfielder) than we would expect him to occupy at Arsenal and his versatility has been displayed over the years in more conventional central midfield and right midfield roles.

I think Morgan is about as suited to dropping into central defence as Vermaelen was at being pushed up into defensive midfield – not at all. He is a superb holding midfielder and has shown box to box ability over the past two season as well and I suspect that is not quite what Wenger is looking for. William Carvalho seemed to be the more realistic object of Wenger’s transfer desires last summer as he can fill in at centre-back.

There has also been no noise from Southampton or Morgan/his camp – both whom have been quite open with the media – regarding interest from Arsenal. The only source of Arsenal interest seems to come from the media themselves.

Reported in the Express and Telegraph Morgan had this to say about the summer:

“In the months building up to it, there was interest from clubs – three clubs and Tottenham were among them.

Since February/March, my agents and I had talked with Southampton about a possible departure. The club always told me they would sell for the right price.

My agents and I went to that meeting on July 29 in a peaceful state of mind, with exciting propositions. To me, with my six years at Southampton and everything I had given to the club, everything should have been sorted that day.

I told them I signed for a project that was supposed to keep the best elements in order to go higher. Before that meeting, (Adam) Lallana, (Dejan) Lovren, (Rickie) Lambert, Luke Shaw and (Calum) Chambers all left. I said to myself: ‘This is not the same situation, this is not possible. What are they doing?’ At that moment, Southampton hadn’t signed anyone.

Chambers signed for Arsenal the day before our meeting and the club saw the fans getting mad. They thought: ‘If Morgan leaves the stadium will be burnt’. So they told us: ‘Morgan is not for sale, we won’t listen to anything. That is the decision and there is nothing more to say”

Whereas that online bastion of accuracy The Mirror reported those same words like this:

Schneiderlin said: “Chambers left the day before our meeting with Arsenal”

Morgan actually said he had a meeting booked with Southampton about his future – in which he expected to negotiate an exit – and implied the transfer of Chambers to Arsenal, on top of the others, led to fan unrest and scuppered his chances of a move.

It’s quite an unambiguous statement yet the way it was misreported by The Mirror has led to people believing there to be a degree of ambiguity. They’ve actually used quote marks to assign words the player never said to him – in my opinion – to whip up a frenzy amongst the Arsenal supporters who admire him from afar and covet him for their own team.

Talking to the Telegraph Ronald Koeman mentioned an offer from Tottenham but not from Arsenal or any other club.

“We said to Morgan take two days off, think about the situation, because we will not change our minds,” said Koeman. “The situation is difficult because the player makes it difficult. We will see on Monday. I’m not so angry because there’s some different persons behind the player. Maybe Tottenham is pressing the player, maybe the agent is pressing the player”

Jeremy Wilson did a long piece in the Telegraph about Southampton’s summer activity and there’s some compelling stuff for my theory with regards to Arsenal’s contact with Southampton.

The plan was that there would be no more sales but then Arsenal requested a meeting. Despite the expectation of a bid for Morgan Schneiderlin, Arsène Wenger was clear that he wanted Calum Chambers.

and

A £10 million bid had been made by Tottenham for Schneiderlin in the belief that he had a release clause. Schneiderlin thought this had been agreed with Cortese when he signed a contract extension the previous year.

It seems an offer was made by Tottenham but not by any other club. Southampton were extremely shrewd in their summer sales and logic suggests they would have named more clubs if they felt they could have pushed the price up. Of course they had no intention to sell but it seems strange to mention one club and not another unless Tottenham were the only ones pressuring Morgan.

For me it is a little convenient and easy to say Arsenal are in competition for a player with Tottenham. Supporters of both clubs click on such articles because they want to feel like they’ve got one over on their rivals but in reality there are few players both teams go for. The media wanted us to believe we were in a fight with them for Vertonghen but despite needing a centre-halve Wenger didn’t go for him. They also wanted us to believe Wenger wanted Scott Parker and Redknapp was going to beat him to his signature. Wenger wanting Scott Parker! That’s saying an Italian wants to move to Bolton for the gastronomy. Or Scarlett Johansson desperate for a move to Stoke for the handsome men with sexy British accents.

Chambers was a shock signing in the summer with most admitting they had barely heard of him before. Arsenal had the opportunity to speak with Southampton and chose to make their move not for Morgan but for Southampton’s reserve right-back.

Arsène Wenger said he saw something in him when he played us and that prompted the enquiry. Schneiderlin has played against us a few more times than Chambers did. That is not evidence in and of itself just an observation that Wenger has had plenty of chances to see him up close and personal.

In signing Bielik this January he has shown a willingness –  a willingness he has repeated shown over the past 18 years – to take a punt on a young player he thinks can make it at Arsenal. Why not take the same punt in summer 2008? Schneiderlin was available, cheap and able bodied yet after Schneiderlin had secured his transfer to Southampton he turned his attention to a Portuguese crock in the shape of Amaury Bischoff.

Every week the papers report our supposed interest in Schneiderlin and make claims like we have a deal agreed for the summer and whilst that sounds good in theory in practice it seems highly unlikely. Why would Southampton agree a deal to sell one of their best players to a rival before the season has finished? What if they finish above us?

It’s more likely that, if anything, they have agreed to have a discussion once the season is over which is entirely non-committal.

I’m utterly unconvinced by any media report or Twitter account attempting to convince me the interest is real and that we will sign him in the summer. I don’t think it is real but the interest could be there yet being interested in a player and signing them are two different things.

The summer will give us our definite answer – if Wenger doesn’t do it this summer then it’s likely he never will.

As things stand I think the interest in Morgan Schneiderlin is firmly with the fans and when was the last time Wenger signed a player we all wanted or expected him to?

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