“Don’t. Don’t give me hope.” Every Arsenal fan might utter these words, so poignantly said by Hawkeye to Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame. And the reason is a blip that happened seven years ago if we take Twitter or Reddit as our ultimate source.
A picture of a young Erling Haaland in an Arsenal kit, staring into the camera from afar has surfaced when the current Premier League champions, Manchester City, are being touted as the front runner to sign him.
Was it a sly message from Haaland at that tender age, to Arsenal that they should come to get him before any of the biggies get involved?
Arsenal fans are known to have insane transfer speculations and given that another Norwegian, Martin Ødegaard now captains their team, they are on the verge of losing their cool. They want Ødegaard to sway Haaland away from the sharks (Manchester City, Real Madrid, Chelsea, or Barcelona) and bring him safely into Arsenal’s net.
But the man who breaks the transfer news to the world, Fabrizio Romano, mentioned a few weeks ago that, “Erling Haaland is not a realistic possibility for this summer for Arsenal. But they are exploring the market for many strikers.” This could be a blow to the aspirations of the Gunners who are eyeing a top-four finish this season in the league and are daring to go toe to toe for the title next season.
Mikel Arteta’s top priority is to sign a forward since Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah are dwindling from Arsenal, and talks of bringing Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus to the Emirates stadium have also emerged if City sweeps Haaland away off his feet.
The 21-year-old Borussia Dortmund forward has not arrived at a decision yet. The sharks are still circling him, sniffing for a chink in his armour so that they can have him all for themselves. This kind of demand has put Arsenal faithful in a conundrum. But if Haaland makes his way to Manchester City, the Gunners will still have an option to rack up a striker in the form of Gabriel Jesus, if they can sell him the possibility of playing in the Champions League which Jesus enjoys currently at Manchester City.
Given the circumstances of Arsenal deploying their resources to sign a striker, Haaland’s photo wearing the Nike kit that served as the away kit during the 2010/11 season and the third kit during the 2011/12 and 2012/13 season, is a win-win situation for them.
Even if Ødegaard and the sporting director fail to convince Haaland to join Arsenal, Gabriel Jesus can still come in handy for them after he departs from the Citizens.
But the Gunners need to be quick on their feet. Despite Haaland wearing the Arsenal’s iconic kit worn by many of their legends, the Norwegian knows that it’s not the Arsenal of the 2003/04 season. He needs more than persuading to become a Gunner.