Nozzer
Well folks the Vardy to Arsenal saga has come to an end with Vardy deciding to stay at Leicester. It seems to me that he was using us to get a bigger better deal at Leicester. I am not too disconsolate as he is 29 has had one great season and the Euros have shown that he struggles against packed defences, which we faced a lot of last season.
The Vardy saga brings to mind previous Arsenal transfer sagas involving strikers who did not join us.
1) Kerry Dixon.
In February 1988 Chelsea were selling Kerry Dixon for the sum of £1.2 million. We were in for him with West Ham. Dixon wanted to go to Arsenal but Ken Bates did not want to sell him so he stayed at Chelsea.
2) Tony Cottee.
In the pre season before 1988/89 we offered £2.5 million for Cottee, but he decided to go to Everton. It was most likely that they offered him more money. He scored a hat trick on the opening day for Everton as did Alan Smith for us away at Wimbledon. Smudge went on to win the golden boot and Paul Merson whose place was at threat from Cottee won Young Player of the Year. That season didn’t end too badly either at Anfield.
3) Frank McAvennie.
During the 1988/89 season Frank wanted to return to London and we saw him as the man to get the goals to secure the title. He chose West Ham, didn’t score for the rest of the season and got relegated. Apparently he was offered more money from West Ham.
4) Tony Cascarino.
During the 1989/90 season Cascarino was leaving Millwall and chose Aston Villa over us. Again George Graham did not offer him the cash that Villa did. The following season Kevin Campbell emerged and we won the title.
5) Chris Sutton.
In 1994 we were in for Chris Sutton for £5 million but moneybags (at the time) Blackburn secured his services. He won the league that year at Blackburn and later cost us a Champions League place when he chased Nigel Winterburn down with the ball after Blackburn returned possession to in a game at Hiughbury.
6) Patrick Kluivert.
Apparently we were trying to sign Kluivert after the 1998 World Cup but the deal didn’t happen. The following season we signed some French lad called Henry who wasn’t too bad!!!!!!
8) Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
In 2000 a young striker from Malmo came to Highbury believing he was about to sign for Arsenal. He was asked to take part in a trial match and the comment “Zlatan doesn’t do trials” is legendary. (Ed’s note, according to Ibra’s autobiography, the comment was actually made by his agent. Ibra was happy to put his boots on and show his stuff!)
7) Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
In 2001 we were having talks with Martin Keown’s best mate and he declined to come to Arsenal because Arsene said that he would be back up to Henry and he believed that he should be a starter.
8) Nicolas Anelka.
After the move to the Emirates, Wenger was considering re-signing Anelka but decided to place his face in Lord Bendtner.
9) Gonzalo Higuain.
In 2013 we were linked all summer with Higuain but he chose Napoli who were flush with cash from the sale of Edinson Cavani
10) Luis Suarez.
The £40 million and a pound fiasco. Say no more.
So that is a by no means exhaustive list of lucky escapes and missed opportunities. What category will Vardy fall into? As was the case with Kluivert not coming and us signing Henry the following year, there is often a better option around the corner. Who will that be this pre-season?
