Arsenal were pursuing a second striker all summer to partner Olivier Giroud up front. They also revealed a huge spending potential when they disclosed their financial records; showing a huge £70 million chunk readily available for them for transfers.
As a result, the Gunners were linked to top class strikers across Europe like Luis Suarez, Wayne Rooney and Gonzalo Higuain. All 3 were unhappy with their current club and were seeking to make a move at some point in the summer. Arsenal came very close to signing Higuain before Napoli swooped in and secured his services.
They relentlessly pursued Suarez too, however Liverpool remained firm on their stance of not selling him to a domestic rival; and no deal was thus reached. Arsenal feared ending the transfer window with just young French U-20 striker Yaya Sanogo to show for.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger therefore moved into top gear on Deadline Day and captured Real Madrid’s Mesut Ozil for a club record £42.4 million. He was on the lookout for a striker till the very last minute, and eyed bringing in Ba from Chelsea on loan.
The Senegal striker is unhappy on being overlooked by manager Jose Mourinho in his plans as he has preferred to keep faith in new boys Andre Schurrle and Kevin de Bruyne. He also added Samuel Eto’o to his ranks, further pushing Ba down the pecking order.
Arsenal were monitoring this situation and tried to jump in and offer Ba an escape route by signing him up on a one-year loan deal just before the window closed. However, as reported by Metro Mourinho learnt of Arsenal’s capture of Ozil and feared that the Ba move would further strengthen the Gunners considerably and possibly weaken his own team.
He did not want to do that and therefore intervened and did not let this deal pass through. Ba’s fellow Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku earned a loan deal at Everton, however he is stuck at Stamford Bridge and looks set to warm the benches till at least January, when he can once again try and force a move through.
Will Arsenal get him next time around?