Arsenal Transfers: 6 Best Players the Gunners Should Have Signed but Didn't

An incoming transfer oftentimes has a similar effect to a team victory. That feeling was on display once again Monday, when FC Cologne striker Lukas Podolski was officially announced as the newest Gunner.

We've yet to see Podolski play or learn if he can fit into the team dynamic, but we're hopeful. Given his considerable talent and experience playing at the highest levels (he has 95 caps for the senior German national team), it would seem likely that he can make an impact, perhaps as early as next season.

The German will likely be the first of what promises to be a very active transfer window by Arsene Wenger as he looks to strengthen his side ahead of a title push in 2012-13.

The promise of more signings makes one wonder...what players were almost signed in the past, but ended up going to other clubs?

Here's a list of six players who could have made significant impacts at Arsenal, but saw their transfer moves fall flat.

Xabi Alonso

Following the 2008 European Championships, it looked like a domino scheme of transfers was ready to take place.

Gareth Barry was set to move from Aston Villa to Liverpool, thus clearing the way for the Reds' midfielder Xabi Alonso to head to Arsenal and team up with compatriot Cesc Fabregas in central midfield.

Arsenal were in dire need of a proven holding midfielder after Mathieu Flamini, so impressive during the 2007-08 season, left on a free transfer for AC Milan.

The Spaniard's asking price was a reported £16 million, which would have been enough money for Benitez to then scoop up Barry.

As we now know, both moves failed to materialize. Alonso remained at Liverpool, Barry at Aston Villa.

The then-26-year-old Alonso could have provided an excellent pairing with Fabregas. Both were excellent at Euro 2008, and again at World Cup 2010. Alonso has since moved on to Real Madrid, where he has continued to find first-team football.

Had he come to Arsenal, though, not only would he have bolstered the side—Fabregas likely would have remained fit for the entire season, as the Arsenal midfielder was sidelined for three months after suffering a knee injury from an Alonso challenge when the teams met in December 2008.

Yaya Toure

Yaya Toure, now deemed one of the most complete midfielders in world football, was once a hair's breadth away from joining Arsenal.

At 15, Toure had so impressed Wenger while on trial with the north London club that the French manager was ready to bring him in on a transfer.

A lengthy waiting period for a European passport then soured the move, and Toure moved from Belgian club Beveren to Metalurh Donetsk.

Speaking ahead of Arsenal's match against Manchester City (Toure's current club) last December, Wenger said he hadn't been sure as to what position would suit Toure best. It seemed the Ivorian's versatility was almost a curse.

"He can play center back, as a second-striker, as a midfielder and for a long time we didn’t know where to play him," Wenger said. "He played in a preseason home at Barnet as a second striker – and he was completely average on the day."

Yoann Gourcuff

Once deemed one of the most attractive attacking talents in world football (he was positively sensational in leading Bordeaux to the domestic double during the 2008-09 season), Gourcuff has been one of the trendiest picks to join Arsenal in recent seasons.

He appeared closest to making the move to north London in 2010. Gourcuff had seen his Bordeaux side go from leading Ligue 1 at the Christmas break to missing out on Champions League football altogether. It had been a spectacular crash of form.

Laurent Blanc had just left Bordeaux to take the reins of the French national team, and Gourcuff looked ready to move on as well.

With Cesc Fabregas hinting at a move to boyhood club Barcelona that summer, Gourcuff appeared the perfect player to replace the Catalan.

Former French international Marcel Desailly, who played with Chelsea during his career, understood why Arsenal had been tempted by Gourcuff.

"

I can understand why Arsenal would want him because Arsene Wenger looks very hard at what players are like off the pitch and Gourcuff is a very good guy. He keeps a low profile. Also, as a player, he has the same sort of characteristics as Fabregas. He needs to score more goals but if he moves to the English league then he can step up to the same level as Fabregas.

"

Gourcuff ended up moving to Olympique Lyonnais in August 2010 for a then-Ligue 1 record €22.5 million. (Javier Pastore has since smashed that sum with his €42 million deal to PSG last summer.)

Cristiano Ronaldo

Arsene Wenger had met several times with Sporting Lisbon wunderkind Cristiano Ronaldo and his mother back in 2003, in the hopes of persuading the Portuguese winger to commit his future to Highbury.

It made quite an impression on Ronaldo, who said he was "an inch" away from becoming an Arsenal player, before signing for Manchester United for £12.25 million.

Ronaldo's mother is known to wield a significant influence over her son's career, encouraging him to make a move to from United to Real Madrid in 2009.

Had he moved to Arsenal, Ronaldo likely would have avoided the vitriol he received from Gunners fans for his penchant to score and score often for United against Arsenal.

We all remember this free kick, after all.

Loic Remy

Another player frequently linked with a move to the Emirates in recent seasons—must be Wenger's penchant for bringing in French players to Arsenal)—is Loic Remy. He remains a Ligue 1 player, although he has switched southern clubs—from Nice to Marseille.

Arsenal scout Gilles Grimandi had extensively scouted Remy during the winter of 2010 after Robin van Persie succumbed to a serious injury. The Gunners would struggle with attacking options for the rest of that season, even using diminutive Andrei Arshavin as a center forward when attrition became most severe. (He didn't win many headers.)

However, Wenger was looking for a quick signing and was not willing to break his bank to bring in Remy as an emergency aid. When Nice held firm over their £13 million asking price, Arsenal decided to look elsewhere.

Mario Goetze

Before Lukas Podolski, it was Mario Gotze who had stars in the eyes of Arsenal fans as they dreamed of the arrival of an attacking midfielder deemed to be one of the most scintillating young talents in world football.

Podolski's transfer took the majority of headlines in 2012, but during the first part of the season, it was all Gotze.

Blessed with an uncanny technical ability and surgical incisiveness in the attacking third, Gotze was excellent during Borussia Dortmund's two matches against Arsenal in this season's Champions League.

He was near-untouchable during the first game in Dortmund back in September.

One feels that Arsenal's pursuit of Gotze is not yet over. He will be a plot line to keep track of in seasons to come.