After the Felipe Melo Fiasco... Can We Still Trust Wenger?

The last couple of months have seen Arsenal being linked with no fewer than 78 players. I have noticed that Wenger's take on the transfer market often mirrors his own Utopic view on soccer. What I mean here is that he never rushes to substantiate or clarify any media rumours about any players which the team might be linked to, primarily to avoid embarassment for the player as well as for the club.

To corroborate this statement, consider the case of Felipe Melo: Arsenal were constantly linked with the player who finally made a switch to Juventus inspite of being on the Arsenal radar for a long time. The final switch was completed for over 22 million pounds. The media had not relented from perpetuating the newly corrupted version of the 'Wenger knows best' chant.

However was Arsene so off in his evaluation? Was his 12 million pound that bloody low? Felipe Melo was a year into his contract with Fiorentina and had gained popularity in the league due to his tough tackling methods. But was he a worldwide star yet? Not really. Was he atleast a proven midfield general? I don't think one great year makes you a star worth banking on. Who would know this better than Arsenal fans who have had oft touted examples of Adebayor, Hleb and Flamini. In fact, the reason for his global popularity were 2 things:

1. The Confederations Cup: Where he was actually playing the role of Fabregas, with Gilberto as his cover and
2. Arsene Wenger's interest in him.

For the first factor, even though I think he was good, his performance was not near as exemplary as, say, an Arshavin during the Euro, where he single handedly routed The Mighty Dutch. What in the world would make Melo cost more than Arshavin then?

The second factor is almost a trend now of all players rumoured with a link up with Arsenal becoming overnight stars. As testmonial, here is a look at something I got off Google Trends

On the 10th of June when Goal.com reported that Arsenal were linked with Melo, search volumes on Melo in the online space, shoot up like there is no tomorrow.

Post the Confederation Cup, Fiorentina had him sign a one year contract to extend his tenure in the club which was little more than a farce - a sort of a charade to let everyone know that "Hey, I am happy here... But I am willing to move if the moneys are right". That was precisely when Wenger lost interest in Melo. In fact, my understanding is that the statement on the club website about Arsenal's proposed interest in Melo, was made long after Wenger had made the initial proposal.

Atleast the fact that Arsene did not respond to the circus playing itself out in Italy goes to show that he has a significant amount of Plan Bs, each of which are as good as the former if not better. And let us not forget, that Wenger has earmarked this year as the make or break season for his own philosophy. I personally think that after all the glory he has brought us, we can definitely give him atleast one more year for his project to play out.