Arsenal Transfer Rumors: Gunners Wasting Time by Joining Eden Hazard Sweepstakes

Arsenal doesn't have a chance to outbid the Premier League's top spenders to land coveted young star Eden Hazard, so chasing him is simply a waste of time.

Adrian Kajumba of the Daily Star reports the Gunners have joined the race to acquire the 21-year-old winger. Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea are all heavily involved in the sweepstakes, making Arsenal the fourth team mentioned by Lille director Frederic Paquet earlier in the week.

While Arsenal fans will surely be pleased to see manager Arsene Wenger attempting to make a big splash in the transfer market, the chances of actually completing a deal with Hazard remains slim to none. And it's closer to none.

Wenger suffered through a disappointing transfer window last summer. He watched as several key players, including Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy, walked away from the team. A run at Hazard shows he wants to avoid another mass exodus.

Unfortunately for the Gunners, there's a lot of question marks surrounding the future of star striker Robin van Persie. He led the Premier League in goals with 30 this season, but hasn't yet committed his future to the Emirates after talks stalled last week.

That throws a major wrench in the team's plans to land Hazard. It's tough for a rising star like him to sign with a new team if he doesn't even know if that squad's top player will be back next season. Arsenal wouldn't be nearly as competitive without Van Persie.

Any time there's a high level uncertainty like that, it's tough to negotiate with potential transfers. The Gunners must resolve the issue with Van Persie as soon as possible so they can shift their focus to other moves necessary to keep the team in contention next season.

The other problem Arsenal has with Hazard is money. The Daily Star report says he's looking for £200,000 per week in his new contract, but the Gunners haven't even been willing to offer Van Persie more than £130,000.

Between the wage demands and Van Persie's uncertain future, the Gunners are well behind the other three squads to land Hazard.

They would be much better off trying to search for more attainable options because once Hazard decides, the teams that don't get him will move on to plan B. At least Arsenal could try to gain an edge on that next wave of players by getting an early start.

If Wenger had a realistic shot of getting Hazard's signature, pursuing him would be a smart move. But since that's not the case, he should just move on.