This time of the year could easily be considered the doldrums of being a PL fan. There isn’t much action in the transfer wake for us and there obviously isn’t any gaming going on. That said, the MLS is in full swing (nope, have really watched it this year) and the English rumor mill is churning milk into butter as usual. Some mighty fine ideas out there being floated that are worth a few notations:

Gonzalo Higuain, Real Madrid: The guy is a legit striker and would certainly take the starting spot from day 1, relegating Giroud to a reserve role. First, let’s chat Gonzalo. The guy brings that instant striker capability that we have missed since the dutch skunk took his toys and left the playground. I salivate at the idea that we could land a striker of his caliber and his game, and his familiarity with the Spanish style would serve our team well. Additionally, a move like this addresses a need that everyone and their mother knows is missing in our game. Second, what to do with Hey Hey Giroud? Well, nothing. We need another striker. OG knows it, the fans know it, everyone inside London, outside London and stateside knows it. IF we landed Higs then a competition brews (not really though) and we now have a bit more depth in our central striker spot. OG isn’t exactly a bad guy to have in our bag of tricks given that, you know, we want to compete for titles and hardware all season long.

Wayne Rooney, Man U: Look, the guy is talented and if played as a striker, which he is MORE than capable of (IMHO and oh, I don’t know the 27 goals he hung up not so long ago). Does it cause me to salivate? No. He is a United guy. But hell, I wouldn’t mind taking someone so identifiable with a certain club and letting him run ragged against them. Hell, I don’t think I am the only guy that wouldn’t mind watching him notch a brace or hat trick against Moyes and Man U. I don’t exactly want to splash a whole bunch of cash on him but at the right price I would be happy to put him on the pitch and see how those plugs hold up.

Marouane Fellaini, Everton: In my opinion, this would be a very interesting move for Arsenal (and harkens back to the players of old in our history). I like the idea of an enforcer in the squad for footballing. Arsenal have none right now and the fancy haired feline would definitely add some pack to our punch (not to mention some additional hair product revenue that we already get via Mikel). That being said, I don’t exactly remember too many games, sans those against Everton, where enforcement was a problem (although Jack was pushed around WAY too much this year without consequence). Scoring goals though? Hmm… If this really is to happen then I think we are going to see a bit of a tactical shift (could it be Arsene?!) that aligns well with our possession game. All in all, I think he would add a great presence in the midfield and if signed for long term I see him being in Arteta’s spot all day long (maybe together and Mikel gets to move forward more?).

Cesc Fabergas, Barcelona: Aww, that would kind of be awesome. Maybe. I’m not exactly a fan of second round trips unless the first was really good. Well, Cesc was pretty damn good the first time around. I salivate over the idea of Cazorla and Fabs dominating the middle. It could be awesome or it could absolutely suck. Given the way the Spain team tends to play (their pretty good with all those really good midfielders right?) I think it could work out really well (especially since Wenger likes to put Santi on the “wing”). I feel like this becomes one of those who do you start if all this actually happens though right? Meh, such a sweet problem to have if it actually happened. Given my propensity to the Spanish style of play I would welcome the man back with open arms; could any Arsenal fan actually say otherwise (maybe that should be a future post…).

In the end, I really hope that we land both Fellaini and Higuain (a guy can have dreams right?). I think those two players would really address the depth issues we had this year (meaning they would start and we would have depth below them) but also add to this foreign idea that we are ready to challenge for more than our fourth place hardware.

Well, until we actually sign someone it isn’t worth doing much analysis and what not so I’m going to have to save the talented (ha!) writing on acquisitions for when it actually happens.

Come on Arsene, give me something to write about dammit!!!