Arsenal Transfer Rumours: Gunners Risk Losing Identity in Luis Suarez Pursuit

In one of the more interesting inter-club power struggles of recent memory, Luis Suarez’s potential move from Liverpool has still not come to pass, although there’s no shade of uncertainty over the fact it could still happen this summer.

The Metro’s Jamie Sanderson has reported that Arsenal are again mounting interest in the player, however, and are willing to break numerous records to bring him to North London.

Already this summer the Gunners have launched multiple bids for Suarez, the latest of which was worth £40 million plus £1, made with the intent of triggering a clause the club understood existed in the Uruguayan’s contract.

However, as per the Metro report, it has emerged that not only would Arsenal break their transfer record for the Uruguayan striker, they are also prepared to make him their highest-paid player ever, dishing out a four-year contract worth £160,000-a-week.

Such an offer would be a 33 percent increase on what the pint-sized poacher already receives at Anfield, having negotiated a £120,000-a-week contract extension with Liverpool last summer.

One person in the public eye who supports such a move is Piers Morgan, who proceeded to propose a Suarez-related bet via Twitter:

For years, Arsenal have developed a reputation for not competing financially with the Premier League’s other big guns.

It’s no secret that in the last decade particularly, spending in European football has increased exorbitantly, with some of England’s giants among the most frivolous with their cash.

Arsenal have managed to stay out of that battle for the large part, though, regardless of the fact they have not won major silverware for some eight years now.

While one might argue that such a refusal has ultimately been to their detriment, there’s no solid evidence to say the Gunners would have earned more trophies had they been more involved in the transfer market either.

This summer is as perfect an example of a classic Arsenal transfer window under Arsene Wenger as one will find. The club have signed just one player, French starlet Yaya Sanogo, on a free transfer, but have managed to release almost two dozen players, both old and young.

Having freed up some much-needed squad space and wages, yet still managing to hold onto all their key players, the window can’t exactly be lambasted. Yet the fans won’t regard it as the exciting one the majority will have been hoping for.

However, last summer saw the club bring in Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud very early on, neither of whom came cheaply.

While one can’t speak for the masses, there didn’t seem to be many complaints on the matter. Yet, as the 2012-13 season showed, money doesn’t necessarily buy you love and the club fared no better than they had done in previous terms without much expenditure.

By splashing out so much on just the one name, Arsenal would be reneging on a structure that has come to define them under the Wenger rule, and is something that continues to set them apart from England’s other titans, although it’s uncertain for how much longer.

Yes, Suarez represents just about everything Arsenal need right now, but he also represented everything Liverpool needed when they picked him up from Ajax for half the fee currently being linked with his name.

In the past, the Gunners certainly could have invested in what was popular, but found other, more economically-friendly means.

Regardless of the pressure on their shoulders, they should persevere with what has seen them through to this point.