So 'Big Club' Napoli are more attractive?

[IrishJB]

Ironic really that Napoli (of course signed Higuain over us) come to the Emirates this weekend as one of possibly 2 clubs to 'rub it in our faces' - thanks Arsene for that!

But what the hell has happened here? surely we've all heard of Napoli and it seems they have a bit of cash, but with 2 x Serie A Italian Titles, 4 x Italian ‘FA cups’, 1 x Uefa Cup to their name (and all since 1962 - formed 1926), it's a bit like Blackburn beating us to a player we wanted!

So anyone know what really happened, were we just not prepared to pay that price for him or did he really not want to go to us ie with uncertainty not into the CL group stages yet or AW uncertainty whether he stays/goes? or maybe Real were just ass holes?

Surely now it's done, the Arsenal board can open their frgn mouths and tell us what happened? we deserve to know?

[Perryashburtongroves]

I don't know the facts but you can be sure that Wanker fucked it up somehow. Quite frankly, with him in charge, never mind Napoli because Barnet, Aldershot and a few pub teams are more attractive to players.

[Swifty]

Ironic really that Napoli (of course signed Higuain over us) come to the Emirates this weekend as one of possibly 2 clubs to 'rub it in our faces' - thanks Arsene for that!

But what the hell has happened here? surely we've all heard of Napoli and it seems they have a bit of cash, but with 2 x Serie A Italian Titles, 4 x Italian ‘FA cups’, 1 x Uefa Cup to their name (and all since 1962 - formed 1926), it's a bit like Blackburn beating us to a player we wanted!

So anyone know what really happened, were we just not prepared to pay that price for him or did he really not want to go to us ie with uncertainty not into the CL group stages yet or AW uncertainty whether he stays/goes? or maybe Real were just ass holes?

Surely now it's done, the Arsenal board can open their frgn mouths and tell us what happened? we deserve to know?

I think it's more about Napoli getting all ambitious - the hide of them - plus cashing in on Cavani (as one would expect Spurs to do with Bale). They went well last year and according to Deloitte are the 15th richest club in the world.

[Dan_85]

Higuain wanted to join us, i'm sure of it. His family made all the right noises too. Why did we fail to sign him? Because Lord Wenger dithered, dilly dallied, squabbled with Madrid over his worth then went off and flirted with Suarez. How do you think that made Higuain feel? He must have thought "fuck this".

Ironically, and quite hilariously, it's backfired spectacularly on AW as i'm sure he didn't want Suarez at all. Too expensive and not at all his kind of player. Yet his "mindgames" with Real bit him on the arse when they decided to fuck the Higuain deal off and now Wenger is left with no other option but to make a move for Suarez (or at least be seen to look like he's making a move, only to fail of course because of Liverpool's "ridiculous demands" ) or face the wrath of the fans.

[Red Gunner]

Ironic really that Napoli (of course signed Higuain over us) come to the Emirates this weekend as one of possibly 2 clubs to 'rub it in our faces' - thanks Arsene for that!

But what the hell has happened here? surely we've all heard of Napoli and it seems they have a bit of cash, but with 2 x Serie A Italian Titles, 4 x Italian ‘FA cups’, 1 x Uefa Cup to their name (and all since 1962 - formed 1926), it's a bit like Blackburn beating us to a player we wanted!

Not really. Blackburn are a Championship club whilst Napoli are a Champions League club. And Napoli have more of a chance of winning the league than we do. Anyway history doesn't really matter in football. Historically Arsenal are bigger than Chelsea and Man City, yet today players are more attracted to them because of their ambition and financial standing.

So anyone know what really happened, were we just not prepared to pay that price for him or did he really not want to go to us ie with uncertainty not into the CL group stages yet or AW uncertainty whether he stays/goes? or maybe Real were just ass holes?

Surely now it's done, the Arsenal board can open their frgn mouths and tell us what happened? we deserve to know?

I think it's the former. We just didn't want to pay the lucre or we were prepared to pay what's needed but Wenger wanted to test Real and started haggling.

[g88ner]

So anyone know what really happened, were we just not prepared to pay that price for him or did he really not want to go to us

I think it's obvious.

Napoli were willing to match Real Madrid's valuation and we weren't. As a result, they signed him with a minimum amount of fuss that we can only dream of.

Being a club of stature is great, but if you're not willing to pay as much as other clubs, you'll miss out time and time again.

[LDB]

We deserve to know? Because a rumour was put out that turned out to be false?

I'm disappointed we didn't get Higuain too but we don't know the ins and outs of the deal at all and I'm sure most of it is down to them having 55m burning a hole in their pocket from the sale of cavani. What would be annoying is if we sulked off after not getting him for 22m and then going on to bid 40m for suarez but again, we don't know that that is what happened.

[kiwomya]

Higuain wanted to join us, i'm sure of it. His family made all the right noises too. Why did we fail to sign him? Because Lord Wenger dithered, dilly dallied, squabbled with Madrid over his worth then went off and flirted with Suarez. How do you think that made Higuain feel? He must have thought "fuck this".

Ironically, and quite hilariously, it's backfired spectacularly on AW as i'm sure he didn't want Suarez at all. Too expensive and not at all his kind of player. Yet his "mindgames" with Real bit him on the arse when they decided to fuck the Higuain deal off and now Wenger is left with no other option but to make a move for Suarez (or at least be seen to look like he's making a move, only to fail of course because of Liverpool's "ridiculous demands" ) or face the wrath of the fans.

I'd stop reading the papers if I were you.

[arseofacrow]

So anyone know what really happened, were we just not prepared to pay that price for him or did he really not want to go to us

I think it's obvious.

Napoli were willing to match Real Madrid's valuation and we weren't. As a result, they signed him with a minimum amount of fuss that we can only dream of.

Being a club of stature is great, but if you're not willing to pay as much as other clubs, you'll miss out time and time again.

From the info available, that's pretty much it. Real wanted to raise as much cash as possible and had Arsenal remained as one of the only serious buyers, we would have got him at a price closer to our valuation. As it is, Napoli were able to go in at Real's price and get the deal done.

[kiwomya]

So anyone know what really happened, were we just not prepared to pay that price for him or did he really not want to go to us

I think it's obvious.

Napoli were willing to match Real Madrid's valuation and we weren't. As a result, they signed him with a minimum amount of fuss that we can only dream of.

Being a club of stature is great, but if you're not willing to pay as much as other clubs, you'll miss out time and time again.

From the info available, that's pretty much it. Real wanted to raise as much cash as possible and had Arsenal remained as one of the only serious buyers, we would have got him at a price closer to our valuation. As it is, Napoli were able to go in at Real's price and get the deal done.

Higuain signed on the dotted line, though. If he was that bothered about Arsenal he would have rejected Napoli's contract....

[arseofacrow]

So anyone know what really happened, were we just not prepared to pay that price for him or did he really not want to go to us

I think it's obvious.

Napoli were willing to match Real Madrid's valuation and we weren't. As a result, they signed him with a minimum amount of fuss that we can only dream of.

Being a club of stature is great, but if you're not willing to pay as much as other clubs, you'll miss out time and time again.

From the info available, that's pretty much it. Real wanted to raise as much cash as possible and had Arsenal remained as one of the only serious buyers, we would have got him at a price closer to our valuation. As it is, Napoli were able to go in at Real's price and get the deal done.

Higuain signed on the dotted line, though. If he was that bothered about Arsenal he would have rejected Napoli's contract....

Who said he was bothered about Arsenal? I would think that both Napoli and Arsenal met his criteria and Napoli got the deal done at Real's price. Gob done. Nice and simple.

[northbank123]

So anyone know what really happened, were we just not prepared to pay that price for him or did he really not want to go to us

I think it's obvious.

Napoli were willing to match Real Madrid's valuation and we weren't. As a result, they signed him with a minimum amount of fuss that we can only dream of.

Being a club of stature is great, but if you're not willing to pay as much as other clubs, you'll miss out time and time again.

From the info available, that's pretty much it. Real wanted to raise as much cash as possible and had Arsenal remained as one of the only serious buyers, we would have got him at a price closer to our valuation. As it is, Napoli were able to go in at Real's price and get the deal done.

Higuain signed on the dotted line, though. If he was that bothered about Arsenal he would have rejected Napoli's contract....

Perhaps after about six weeks of our interest being reported yet absolutely no progress on the negotiation front he didn't feel it wise to wait around for a move that was probably never going to happen.

We're a better option than Napoli but nowhere near good enough that you drop everything else and jeopardise your career for.

[gavbacon]

Higuain wanted to join us, i'm sure of it. His family made all the right noises too. Why did we fail to sign him? Because Lord Wenger dithered, dilly dallied, squabbled with Madrid over his worth then went off and flirted with Suarez. How do you think that made Higuain feel? He must have thought "fuck this".

Ironically, and quite hilariously, it's backfired spectacularly on AW as i'm sure he didn't want Suarez at all. Too expensive and not at all his kind of player. Yet his "mindgames" with Real bit him on the arse when they decided to fuck the Higuain deal off and now Wenger is left with no other option but to make a move for Suarez (or at least be seen to look like he's making a move, only to fail of course because of Liverpool's "ridiculous demands" ) or face the wrath of the fans.

This is absolutely spot on! Gutted we didn't get Higuain.

[1989]

We wanted Higuain and had agreed a deal for him, then Real suddenly pushed his price up (on Ancelotti's advice perhaps?) and we pulled out, because 1) it showed poor business etiquette on RM's part and 2) if we are gonna spend over £30m for Higuain then might as well go for the superior, PL proven striker in Suarez.

[northbank123]

We wanted Higuain and had agreed a deal for him, then Real suddenly pushed his price up (on Ancelotti's advice perhaps?) and we pulled out, because 1) it showed poor business etiquette on RM's part and 2) if we are gonna spend over £30m for Higuain then might as well go for the superior, PL proven striker in Suarez.

For someone that dishes out a lot of criticism to people believing what they read because they want to you seem to have jumped on this version of events that doesn't really seem to have any solid base as fact...