In a strange twist this summer, Arsenal have been linked with a move for Rob Green.
You might be checking the date to see if its still 2017. Don’t worry, we haven’t gone back in time – Arsenal have been genuinely linked with Rob Green.
The first reaction to this story is to dismiss it entirely. After all, there’s absolutely no way that the Leeds man has the quality to play for Arsenal and provide competition for a vastly superior goalkeeper in Petr Cech.
The idea of replacing the likes of Wojceich Szczesny and David Ospina with Green is just absurd. But when you examine some of the second-choice goalkeepers at top clubs over the years, it starts to make a disturbing amount of sense.
Being a backup keeper means spending 90% of the season not playing football. Second-choice shot-stoppers are lucky if they play more than 10 matches a season. It’s the one position clubs feel they don’t necessarily need a high quality player for. Why pay big money for someone who just doesn’t play?
It’s this logic that has lead to big clubs signing some average keepers. Did you know that ex-Arsenal keeper Stuart Taylor was at Manchester City as recently as 2012? In a career spanning two decades, Taylor has yet to make 100 career appearances, yet found himself at Southampton last season.
City would replace Taylor with another ex-Arsenal keeper: Richard Wright. Wright would spend four years in Manchester before leaving in 2016.
Another ex-Arsenal keeper, Alex Manninger, was at Liverpool last season at the ripe age of 39. He didn’t make a single appearance for them.
Elsewhere, I’m sure we all remember the aptly named Hilario at Chelsea. He would eventually be replaced by Fulham’s Mark Schwarzer, who Arsenal also wanted to sign, despite the Australian approaching 40. So there is precedent for this type of bizarre transfer.
Of course, you have to consider that the link originates from The Sun, and that Arsenal would sooner turn to Emi Martinez than spend money on Green. If Martinez isn’t enough, you’d hope that Arsenal would have a shortlist of options, including younger and more talented keepers than the former England keeper, though it wouldn’t have made as funny a report.
Ultimately, if Arsenal are in desperate need of somebody between the sticks, they may turn to Green as a short-term stop gap, especially if in need of more home-grown players to meet squad rules.
Otherwise, it’s very, very unlikely.