Is Arsene Wenger Holding Out For Stephen Appiah?

Many Arsenal fans woke up to a gloomy Tuesday, the 2nd of September, as manager Arsene Wenger had failed to sign the elusive central midfielder who he had apparently "promised" to acquire.

What is interesting is that, after its closure, Arsene Wenger has not come out with a statement anywhere about what happened during the transfer window. Any quotes that you may see about "Arsenal having a squad to face any difficulties" is simply a re-hash of what Le Boss said a few weeks ago.

Arsene Wenger has always been known as a shrewd operator in the transfer market. He brought in the likes of Julio Baptista, William Gallas, and Lassana Diarra in the closing stages of previous transfer deadline days. That's probably why he felt he could leave his "jigsaw filling" signing so late.

According to reports, that signing was Xabi Alonso. Arsene Wenger apparently put a bid in of around 14 million pounds for the Liverpool player, and it was rumoured that Liverpool would consider selling Alonso as they had brought in Albert Riera from Espanyol.

It was a night full of frantic activity which ultimately led to no signings, and a lot of frustrated Arsenal fans.

I certainly woke up with a certain excitement on Tuesday, only for my buoyant mood to be dashed because Wenger had, in fact, signed nobody.

I was shocked. I didn't understand how Wenger could not see such an apparent flaw in the middle of midfield. He had stated so many times before that he was looking to bring someone in. Surprisingly, though, his comments became more uncertain as the deadline day approached.

Was he trying to play mind games with the press, or was he simply bracing the fans for what was about to happen?

I have no idea.

The simple fact that he's come out and spoken about Fabio Capello and other footballing issues only not to address transfer window related issues. This tells me that he is close to signing Stephen Appiah—one of the few free-agents available today.

Appiah is a combative midfielder and would be a superb addition to the Arsenal squad. His energy and the fact that he has experience would be a massive bonus. The only sticking point is that he suffered a serious knee injury which re-surfaced with breathing problems after an operation.

Appiah, though, has recovered sufficiently to be called up for the World Cup Qualifiers for Ghana.

It was rumoured that Wenger would move for the midfielder when he was at Juventus, with Appiah suggesting at the time that he had "50% reached an agreement with Arsenal." He ended up moving to Fenerbahce, where he won the League. He rescinded his contract a couple of months ago because of the botched up knee surgery done on the advice of the club's medical staff.

In my opinion, he would be a great addition to the Arsenal squad. He is a free agent as well, which eliminates the issue of a transfer fee.

In short, this could be what Arsene Wenger was looking for all summer.

With Wenger not making any conclusive statements about transfers, and there being an international break, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to imagine that Stephan Appiah could well be on his way to the Emirates.