didn’t think it would happen. Actually, I didn’t think a lot of things would happen. When we were first linked with a £30m bid for Luis Suarez I thought surely there must be some mistake.
Little by little though as it became clear that there was no mistake and we weren’t playing a game I didn’t understand to try and sign Gonzalo Higuain, I found myself angry. Here was a man I’d spent two years calling a c**t. I didn’t want him at Arsenal. I despised him as much as anyone I could think of and despite his undeniable talent I could see nothing but the trouble he would bring to Arsenal’s door.
Some people told me my opinion of him would change once he pulled on an Arsenal shirt and I debated that. No way. It couldn’t possibly.
It seems, however, that he hasn’t even had to pull on the shirt for me to find myself warming up to the idea of him at Arsenal.
I feel like slapping myself.
How this change in me has happened I’m not overly sure. I still find the idea of him reprehensible but I now also find myself thinking he could be really good for us. Perhaps it’s my naturally contrary nature – the press have started to get on Arsene’s back so I automatically look for ways to defend him. It’s a pain, this contrary business, has been all my life.
Minds are, they tell us, no use unless they can be changed and while I can’t say mine has changed completely, I can certainly feel it shifting.
How he has gone about his career to date, suing one club to be allowed to leave to join another, biting, handballs, diving, whinging, feigning injury, racially abusing a player and doing whatever it takes to win a game with no concept of a line let alone where it should be drawn, sickens me. I am under no illusion about the type of person he is when he crosses that white line and the game gets underway. None whatsoever.
I’m just being honest about how I feel and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Would I rather there was another option? Yes. Would I have preferred Gonzalo Higuain? You bet. Does how I feel make a blind bit of difference to Arsenal? Not in a million years.
But what other options are there out there now? Rooney? He wants Chelsea. What other players are there in the ‘world class’ bracket now that we decided not to go for Higuain? I want that big player, I want that fat price tag if, for no other reason, than to show people that we can do it and that Wenger isn’t adverse to spending. That these past years have been a case of ‘must’ rather than ‘want’ when it came to spending cash.
I want a marquee signing.
So if we sign him he can come to Arsenal with a loaded clean slate. You don’t get to behave like he has in the past without future indiscretions being punished harder than they would be for a first timer. Eboue got no leeway with me, none whatsoever, when he flung himself to the ground like an epileptic puppy on acid and Suarez won’t either. Not that those two players are comparable.
But for now, should we sign him, I’m prepared to give him a chance.
But only one.
And that’s something I didn’t think possible.
Football eh?
http://ladyarse.co.uk/arsenal/2013/07/Reconciling-my-hate-for-suarez-with-my-love-for-arsenal/
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