Another week passed, still no signing announcement. And now things are getting ridiculous. Rumors have the Gonzalo deal falling apart and that is driving us toward the absolute unthinkable in my mind: spending a ridiculous amount of money for a guy known more for his biting antics than his football exploits. Yes, Suarez. Things really are getting out of hand this year. Unlike in years past where we generally aren’t linked to big boy signings, this year sees us linked to nothing more than New York Yankee like spending of years past. I trust Wenger is not apt to sign for the sake of signing; hell, he never has before. And so that is what makes this summer so frustrating and yet hopeful. We have the money. We have the ability to draw top tier talent (right?!). So why are we linked to a big expensive head-case (Rooney) and another big expensive head-case who acts out like a 5 year old (Suarez)? Has something happened to the water supply in Emirates?

I just don’t get it at this point, especially given the signings and their price tags thus far. A number of players have been dealt across multiple leagues that causes me to keep scratching my head and asking: Shit, if he was available and at that price why the hell didn’t we go out and get him?! So, let’s take a look and where some signings have taken their talents…

Mario Gotze: Sold to their own rivals for a fee of 37mil (Euro). You know that bumped up the price. I mean, if we are already in the 30mil range for Gonzalo, could we have had a chance at nabbing Mario instead? Granted, we probably would have to work incredibly hard to sell him on playing Emirates football and give him crazy wages but we should compete for a guy of his quality.

Andre Schurrle: Sold to Chealsea for a fee of 22mil. Kind of a bargain to me in terms of talent going forward. Not a bad first signing for The Dramatic One and evidence they are here to challenge. Something we might want to think of doing…

Paulinho: Sp*rs poached this little dandy and I had hoped it would come with the news that Bale was out the door. They actually went out and spent 20mil more than Arsenal have… thus far. Let’s hope this is the only time they can beat us to something…

Jesus Navas: 20mil. A guy like this could really add the depth we need to challenge for a title. The big boys with all their toys are here to stay and they are spending again. At least it wasn’t one of our players they poached this time.

Erik Pieters: 3.6mil. Now he went to Stoke which means he could be more about knocking teeth out rather than actually playing defense but it’s not like we couldn’t use some of that from time to time, especially since Jack tends to get treated like a red-headed step-child (trust me, I’m a ginger and know what that is truly like).

David Villa: 5.1mil. That’s it. I can’t believe that is all they paid. Given our shitty depth at striker I can’t believe we couldn’t even go after him for a fee that low. Seriously. You mean you wouldn’t want a guy of his quality acting as your starter for cup games and what not? Just crazy. I know I have a special place in my heart for this guy but he was a full fledged integral piece until he broke his leg. Heck, that alone means we should have signed him, right?!

Mario Gomez: 15.5mil. This one REALLY hurts. That is all it costs?! For a striker of his quality? Naw, were not interested in proven players of his sort… I can’t believe that Wenger would pass on this. It really makes me wonder if we have become absolutely clueless in the whole transfer business. You can’t tell me he itched to go play in Serie A…

Carlos Tevez: 9mil. Really? Geez… we don’t want to take a flyer on a guy who already knows how to score in the Premier League? It’s not like we already don’t know what it’s like to have a head-case (Bendtner). I would much rather have Tevez at 9mil than Suarez at 30mil or more. At least Tevez would be cheaper… and fall down less…

All this brings me to the conclusion that we don’t know what we are doing anymore in the wake of today’s transfer business. At least, not lately. We had our hands tied for so long that we seem to be better at selling than buying and the landscape we find ourselves in now is a bit different. Honestly, don’t you wonder if there are just teams out there that refuse to deal with Wenger? Or that they are put-off by his approach? When is the last time that we bought from another big club? Please don’t say Arshavin and Zenit…