Signings You're Glad We Never Made

[musicmonkey]

I was flicking through the Arsenal subreddit where they've got a thread going on biggest transfer bullets we've dodged over the years. After looking at the Transfer Rumours and reading some old posts on players who've since faded into obscurity i thought it'd be interesting to get what you guys think on some of the players we've dodged.

So:
1) Which almost signings/heavily rumoured player are you happy we dodged?

2) What recent rumours do you think we'll look back on and think the same?

3) Any players in particular you were set on at the time but turned out badly?

Example:
1) Balotelli was pined for last year and not getting him leveled quite the criticism at Wenger. Since then he's gone on to be quite the spectacular flop.

2) I think Jackson Martinez won't be one we'll wish we'd signed.

3) I thought M'Villa was a great fit for us, he's not really gone anywhere and the boss has since slotted Coquelin in quite nicely at the DM spot.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

1. Hazard

2. Kongdobia

3. M'Villa

 

[GDeep™]

Ryan Babel was someone I was very high on, and we were strongly linked with him. Bullet dodged as he never looked a top level talent.

Balotelli from recent times, another I wanted badly as I thought he would click under Wenger, but its looking more and more he has attitude/heart issues.

Sakho, we were always linked, he was hyped as the next big thing in France etc, again, another I wanted, got sucked in by the hype etc - proven to be a donkey.

 

[Token Yank]

1.) Bernard/Jesus Navas/Alexandre Pato
2.) Jackson Martinez
3.) 98% of rumors get me excited and most turn out badly but if I had just one pick, Yoann Gourcuff duh!!! Still want him to this day.

 

[Gooner416]

1) Which almost signings/heavily rumoured player are you happy we dodged?
Yann M'Villa, Felipe Melo, Salomon Kalou, Yoann Gourcuff, Demba Ba, Scott Dann, Mario Balotelli, Gaby Mudingayi, Esteban Granero, Freddy Adu, Nikola Zigic, Yohan Mollo, Niko Kranjcar, Mathieu Coutadeur, Steven Defour, Obafemi Martins, Roque Santa Cruz, Clement Chamtome, Ricky Alvarez, Hugo Rodallega, Chris Samba, Taye Taiwo, Elijero Elia, Aly Cissokho, Ganso.
2) What recent rumours do you think we'll look back on and think the same?
William Carvalho, Ki, Adrien Rabiot, Gerard Moreno, Josip Drmic.
3) Any players in particular you were set on at the time but turned out badly?
Arshavin, Miyaichi, Gervinho, wasn't keen on Andre Santos but didn't think he would be actually that bad.

 

[BobP]

Awesome thread idea.

 

[Macho]

Gomis - was always linked with him when he was getting games for France, never wanted him- surprised we never did as he's very much the modern Wenger striker (Big, Played in France, athletic,barely scores).

Gouffran - similar reasons as above.

Ben Arfa - Was a fan at one point

 

[amirkat]

Kalou, obviously.

And yes, Wenger was actually in for him: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/23/salomon-kalou-rejected-arsenal

 

[Hunta]

Soldado.
Paulinho.
Lamela.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

M'Vila, Samba, Schwarzer, Given, Jagielka, Dempsey, Dembele, Kalou, Afellay, Balotelli, Babel, Parker.

Can guarantee we'll look back at Kondogbia, Martinez, etc as those too. Hopefully Schneiderlinn when people begin to realise Coquelin is better and there was no point spending near 30 million for a bench warmer.

I really wanted us to get Villa just 2/3 years ago, but he didn't really do much in his final year at Barca or for Atletico. Reina, really wanted him but it was almost all down hill after that.

 

[Proof]

I'm glad we didn't sign Jon Dahl Tomasson, Marcelo Zalayeta and Niko Kranjcar.

 

[albakos]

1) Which almost signings/heavily rumoured player are you happy we dodged?
Never really linked, but I remember A-M was like a house on fire when Lorik Cana was signed from Sunderland for only 5M and we had only Song at DM.

2) What recent rumours do you think we'll look back on and think the same?
Gonalons, Rabiot, Mario Suarez and many other CMs

3) Any players in particular you were set on at the time but turned out badly?
M'Vila was a typical Arsène signing and I like many others jumped into the bandwagon. Now that he's gone missing, I'm glad we dodged that bullet

 

[Trilly]

1) It was my first summer really browsing the net for arsenal transfer rumours, it also happened to be the first summer the financial shackles were off. I'm happy that Fellaini at DM nonsense never happened. Would have been the death of Wenger.

2) Don't think we'll regret not signing Higuain.

3) Really wanted Ben Arfa and...Chris Samba. The less said about that, the better.

 

[Jasinho]

All of those signings that we were so relentlessly linked with every year for a few years. Frey, M'villa, ben arfa, gourcuff, gouffran, tiote, giovinco, Yanga Mbiwa, aly cissoko, Ba. There's a whole lot more that's been even worse, Balotelli from last season springing to mind.

 

[fabo]

Joe Cole.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Sick idea for a thread.

Glad we avoided-

• Fellaini
• Paulinho
• Lamela
• Gomis

We'll be glad we avoided-

• Jackson Martinez
• Bacca
• Milner

I was very high on Paulinho, he looked a talented midfielder. He's been utterly woeful for Spuds, they're fans think he's an Arsenal fan the way he plays for them.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Joe Cole.

****ing hell yeah, Joe Cole! Loads wanted him here, especially for free. Imagine paying all those wages for a player completely past it.

 

[SiMamu]

1) Which almost signings/heavily rumoured player are you happy we dodged?
Mario Balotelli, Joe Cole, Chris Samba, Scott Dann, Roger Johnson

2) What recent rumours do you think we'll look back on and think the same?
Jackson Martinez

3) Any players in particular you were set on at the time but turned out badly?
Lukas Podolski, Gervinho

 

[GDeep™]

Kevin Hofland. We were interested as he was the next big Dutch defender after De Boer and Stam etc, god knows what happened to him.

 

[BobP]

Remember him being at Wolfsburg.