Arsenal Transfers: Why Arsene Wenger Will Never Sign Juan Mata

While Arsenal desperately need a commanding central defender this summer, there is also great need for more attacking verve, especially with the imminent transfer of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona.

To fill the gaping hole that the departure of our captain would leave, the rumor mill has churned out the name of another Spaniard: Juan Mata.

The Valencia midfielder is a supremely talented young player, who starred for Spain at the European U-21 tournament earlier this summer. His left foot has the potential to cause all sorts of havoc when it touches the ball, and his pace combines with an intuitive creative instinct that shreds defenses to pieces.

While Mata is not quite as good as our talisman and captain, almost no one in the world can match Cesc's incredible ability in midfield. It would therefore be futile to scour the transfer market for a perfect replacement who can slot into our central midfield role without skipping a beat.

But Juan Mata, with his aforementioned attributes, is the nearest approximation of this ideal player that Arsenal can hope to sign during this transfer window. He has a fluidity and flair about his game that suggest that he would fit perfectly with Arsenal's free-flowing style of football.

A much more clever player than Samir Nasri, as his 12-to-1 advantage in league assists shows, Mata would be better suited than any member of the current Arsenal team to slot into the most important attacking role in the squad.

Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere, for all their talent, are a little too young to be thrust into the role of the creative fulcrums of the team, and, in addition to Nasri's lack of assists, he will probably not remain with the team beyond next season.

So what is the only stumbling block preventing this seemingly tailor-made transfer from going through?

Arsene Wenger.

I am not as much of a Wenger-hater as some and am not campaigning for his sacking, but I believe that he would quickly see the error of his unflinchingly frugal ways if he were to spend significant money on a player of very high quality like Mata.

In fact, when one takes into account the £40 million transfer fee that Arsenal would receive from the sale of Cesc Fabregas, Mata's £17.5 million release clause is easily within Arsenal's financial capacity.

Furthermore, were the Fabregas transfer to go through, Arsenal would still make nearly a 50 percent profit from the two transactions.

One has to wonder, then, what could possibly prevent Arsene Wenger from simply paying Mata’s release clause and replacing one world-class player with a slightly worse one who costs half the price.

History has shown us that this may simply be a case of unnecessary penny-pinching from the manager. After all, why pay £17.5 million to be done with the negotiations and buy the player outright when I could haggle for a month and possibly get him for £15 million?

Wenger tried this trick last summer when he refused to pay Fulham £3 million for Mark Shwarzer in the interest saving basically a few pennies. If Wojiech Szczesny had not unexpectedly exploded onto the scene last season, I doubt that decision would look so wise.

Swallow your pride a little, Arsene. If we purport to be a big club, we should be able to find a couple million pounds somewhere in our coffers.

The other possible reason that Wenger has shown a propensity to cite in recent years for his reluctance is that he would “hurt the development” of younger players by buying world-class replacements for world-class players.

In this case the boss would probably cite the example of Aaron Ramsey, who has been thought of for some time to be the natural successor to Cesc Fabregas’s midfield throne.

While the Welshman possesses the ability to be a legend and a terrific midfielder for years to come, the time is not right for him to be entrusted with the responsibility of being the engine of the team.

While Mata is young, he is, at 23 years old, three years older than Ramsey, and therefore has a great deal more football experience.

Moreover, Ramsey has not played a full season since Ryan Shawcross broke his leg two years ago and has therefore not built up or shown the necessary consistency to be given a starting role of this magnitude.

And when young Aaron is ready to take the role of the starting central attacking midfielder in one or two years’ time, Samir Nasri will have moved on to greener pastures, as the arrival of Mata would eliminate any need to hold on to the Frenchman.

Wenger could even opt for the middle ground here by selling Nasri and Fabregas whilst slotting Mata into Nasri’s role and Ramsey into Cesc’s. While perhaps not putting Mata in his ideal position, this configuration would provide Arsenal with more tactical flexibility.

Whatever the reason, I simply cannot picture Arsene Wenger ever springing for a player of Juan Mata’s price. Despite the Spaniard’s undeniable quality, I have not seen any indication that the boss is learning his lessons and tweaking his transfer policy accordingly.

The team would greatly benefit from Mata’s arrival, especially in the added competition for places.

However, until the deal is officially finished, Arsenal supporters will again be forced to watch Wenger starve the team of the quality players necessary to win the Premier League while other big clubs invest and get stronger.

Unfortunately, signings like Juan Mata will never happen under Arsene Wenger.

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