Will Arsenal regret missed transfer deals?

Arsenal managed to land Barcelona’s Denis Suarez on loan until the end of the season and although the Spanish Champions have extended the 25-year-old's contract until June 2021, the Gunners have a purchase option in the summer. But will they regret not completing deals on other stars they were in for?

Manager Unai Emery knows the new addition well after they spent the 2014/2015 together at Sevilla, but Gunners fans have been left feeling slightly short changed after several other rumoured transfer targets never materialised.

The first of which was Belgian international Yannick Carrasco. The 25-year-old left Atletico Madrid to join Chinese club Dalian Yifang which was a strange move as the winger was in and around Cholo Simeone’s team at the time and even scored in the 2016 Champions League Final against Real Madrid. The Chinese outfit deemed the Gunners’ loan fee bid too low and the Belgian will stay put.

Another rumoured target was Ivan Perisic who is reported to be edging for a move out of Inter Milan. The 29-year-old wanted to join on loan but the Italian club would only sanction a permanent move and the North-Londoners missed out on another.

The signing of Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Christopher Nkunku was said to have been all but complete, but negotiations failed as, yet again, the two sides disagreed over the size of the fee that Arsenal wanted pay to take the youngster on loan.

Rumours of Gary Cahill crossing town to sign from Chelsea soon disappeared and with Laurent Koscielny, Sokratis, Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding all out with injuries, the Gunners are left with few options for an already suspect defence while the failure to sign Nkunku, a midfielder, is merely a sign of the club’s lack of ambition to many.

Emery’s men are currently situated in the fourth and final Champions League spot but are locked on the same amount of points and goal difference as Chelsea in fifth, and only two points in front of a Manchester United that are storming up the table, revitalised by the arrival of Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

The sheer lack of ruthlessness in getting the signings of quality players over the line may well come back to haunt the club. The best players want to play on the biggest stage and once a club isn’t qualifying for the Champions League, getting big-name players to sign on the dotted line becomes a challenging task.