You cannot change a man

Let’s get the pleasantries out of the way, welcome to Gervais Yao Kouassi to Arsenal Football Club. How warm a welcome should be afforded to the 24-year-old Ivorian international who will have Gervinho on the back of his shirt next season, well I’ll leave that to you.

Yes, this most inevitable of inevitable transfers has finally been confirmed after months of speculation and tribulations, with Arsène Wenger announcing the arrival of yet another winger/attacking midfielder/striker (fill in as applicable) joining the ranks. A frank "he joined after a medical on Thursday, he is in London because he has not trained" was all we got in the manager’s first Southeast Asia press conference early Monday. None of his customary "great player with pace and technique and a short back lift" and so forth that we have heard time and again, mind.

Right, I sound slightly cynical, if not sarcastic, about this latest one.

Well, I am.

Good as Gervinho may be, and he has had a good time over the last two seasons across the Channel, that’s for sure, is a young winger-cum-forward, with, again, no experience whatsoever at the very highest level, really so important that it warranted him to be Arsenal’s first signing of any note this summer?

For me, it reeks of yet another of Wenger’s many indulgences: a nifty, pacey footballer coming over from France quite confused about his best position. Not quite so prolific as an out-and-out striker, and definitely not your touchline hugging winger. Why I should be more excited, more optimistic about Gervinho than I was about Marouane Chamakh last summer, a player whose career had taken off in exactly the same fashion culminating in his own dream move to north London, needs some justification in my book, especially considering what a shocking disappointment the big Moroccan has turned out to be after an impressive opening six weeks. Bearing in mind that this time, however, it took a cool £10 million of Wenger and Arsenal’s thriftily spent pocket money to secure the former Lille man’s services.

And, just thinking ahead for a moment, has anyone thought of the potential situation of being left with just Robin van Persie through January and February, with both, Chamakh, and Gervinho in Africa for the Nations Cup and with Nicklas Bendtner and his pink boots (thankfully) on their way out of the Club? What about a potentially unfit/injured van Persie at that time too? Just a few additional thoughts to throw into the mix.

Elsewhere, staying in Kuala Lumpur, we had yet more waffle from Wenger regarding the Club’s "vision" in the coming years. That is all unsurprising; after all, you cannot change a man unless he’s in nappies, a saying clearly not lost on Wenger! What I did find shocking in that press conference was the manager even going as far as implying that defensive strength may well be offset by "offensive quality" in the coming years.

Pardon?

Oh, a pretext then for when, having promised to add to that shocking defence, and having been consistently linked to the likes Phil Jagielka, Gary Cahill, and Christopher Samba, we end up signing no one, citing Thomas Vermaelen’s return as a "new signing" and somehow envisaging that Laurent Koscielny and Sébastien Squillaci will get better. Not that Wenger probably saw anything wrong with them in the first place!

Just what has come of that man and of Arsenal? This all sounds pretty dreary and cynical, but I make no apology, not after the way we have been duped.

I ask you this. Just go on Arsenal.com and take a look at that list of players touring Asia, only a quick glance! A skim read down and you’ll see (and undoubtedly agree), that, Wilshere, Nasri and van Persie apart, we are devoid of top, top players, the players required "to make Arsenal one of the main forces in the world", as Wenger so dreams. A dream of such proportions cannot and will not be achieved with those few bright sparks surrounded by, well, you know who the dimmers are! We all know, all but Wenger, that is!

All of which has left the very prospect of player mutiny at the highest level a tangible possibility, with rumours that Nasri, alongside his captain Cesc, are being forced to stay!

I’ll end with some posers running through my mind this very moment that I’d like to share: is Gervinho good enough to keep us in the top four? Possibly. Is he good enough to lead us to title glory? Definitely not.

This is a vital time for the Club. For many, the manager has outstayed his welcome but with yet another summer for him to attempt putting things right, Wenger should make no mistake that his actions in the transfer market will shape our standing for next year and beyond.

The sheer reality is: there is an ever-thinning fine line between fighting for titles and Champions Leagues, and slipping out of that privileged mini-league that is the top four. I sincerely hope the Club are well aware of that.