Arsenal Transfer News: Will the Gunners Regret Not Paying Up for Yann M'Vila?

In the final hours of the summer transfer window, there were rumors going around about Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger having something like 20 players on his wish list.

Heck, you and I could have been on there for all we know. If we were, though, my gut tells me that Wenger probably didn't value us as highly as Rennes midfielder Yann M'Vila.

One reason we know this is because Wenger was reported to have made a £22 million bid for the 21-year-old midfielder. It was a figure that would have destroyed the club's record for a single signing, yet it wasn't enough for Rennes.

But when Goal.com reported on Tuesday that Wenger was preparing to up his bid to £25 million, it appeared that he simply was not going to be deterred.

Then deadline day came, and the rumors floating around Arsenal had very little to do with M'Vila. Wenger's attention, it seemed, was elsewhere.

And it was. Instead of making another record-breaking bid for M'Vila, Wenger was completing signings for a quartet of players. In the end, he got two quality defenders in Per Mertesacker and Andre Santos and he also added a pair of midfielders in Yossi Benayoun and Mikel Arteta.

The Arteta signing was completed at the very last minute, and it came as something of a surprise, seeing as how Wenger had already had a bid for him rejected by Everton.

So in the end, Wenger went out and spent his money to bring in four players (five if you count Park Chu-Young, who signed on Tuesday) instead of just one. By strength of numbers alone, this would seem to be a shrewd move on Wenger's part.

But was it the right move? Instead of patching four holes with good players, might Wenger have been better off patching one hole with a really good player?

Indications are that's exactly what Wenger would have done had he been able to land M'Vila.

M'Vila would have slid right into Arsenal's midfield, and he would have been challenging, making tackles and generally raising hell for Gunners opponents in no time. If Wenger really wanted to toughen up his team—and we know he did—M'Vila was the perfect guy for the job.

The obvious counterpoint here is that Wenger chose to add toughness by bringing in Mertesacker and Santos instead. With the two of them on the back line, it's a good bet that Arsenal won't allow eight goals to slip past again, nor will they be considered a mere stepping stone by their opponents.

Those two, of course, will be balanced by the playmaking abilities of Benayoun and Arteta. With them in the fold, the Gunners should be fun to watch.

I guess you could say that Wenger got the best of both worlds. Instead of getting one player who can make things happen, he got four (or five) that can make things happen. And better yet, he did it in a cost-efficient manner.

So if you ask me, the answer is yes. Wenger did the right thing. M'Vila is a good player who would have helped, but in the end, he just wasn't worth it.