Arsene Wenger linked with bringing in Dutch failure to the Emirates, surely not!

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Sports News - January 17, 2010

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has offered Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger the chance to sign Anfield misfit Ryan Babel , according to The People.

Babel has been on the verge of leaving Liverpool for the past few weeks, but he is understood to have turned down deals to join both Birmingham City and Sunderland.

Benitez is desperate to raise funds in order to make a serious bid for Sunderland’s Kenwyne Jones and The People claims that the Arsenal and Liverpool managers have been in dialogue over a possible deal for Babel over the past few days.

However, it is thought that Arsenal will not consider paying the £11million asking price for the Dutchman. But The People suggest that Arsene Wenger would consider a part-exchange deal involving Spanish youngster Fran Merida who is out of contract at the end of the season and has hinted he may leave the Emirates Stadium, being linked to Atletico Madrid in particular.

A potential move to Arsenal would be a dream deal for Babel who seems desperate to secure the highest profile move possible and is also considering interest from French club Marseille. (IMScouting)

Now if this has any basis in reality I will eat my kneecaps. There is surely no way Arsene Wenger would consider a) making a move for Ryan Babel, a player who has been an unmitigated disaster at Anfield and b) do so by offering Fran Merida, an undoubted talent who is beginning to show real potential, in return.

I just do not see the Gunners boss even in his wildest most delusional dreams coming up with this deal and as such I sincerely doubt its validity. There was a time, about three years ago when he was king of the hill at Ajax, when Arsenal were apparently interested in signing the Dutch winger, he could even be seen on occasion at the Emirates chatting away with fellow countryman and good friend Robin Van Persie, but that seems an eternity ago now and whilst Rafa Benitez may well love the idea of getting rid of the troublesome Twitter addicted winger he may have more chance persuading Birmingham to break the bank for his services.

The north London club appear to be keen on bringing in more firepower to help ease their striker injury crisis but quite how that would relate to bringing in a Liverpool flop who tries the same trick again and again, the one where he runs parallel to the full back before cutting inside, a trick that repeatedly sees the 23 year old lose the ball and then stand still whilst his teammates try to get possession back.

Arsenal will not sign Ryan Babel, simple as that. The Gunners will probably look to bring one more player this transfer window, that will probably be a striker. They will also look to keep Emirates starlet Fran Merida as he is a player that Arsene Wenger greatly appreciates and will hope to prevent the Spaniard from moving to the La Liga.

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