It was revealed recently that Arsenal previously turned down the opportunity to sign Denis Suarez from Barcelona, about a year ago.
Since then, he’s been loaned to the club by his parent side Barcelona on a six-month deal, as BonusBets.com reports.
To say Suarez’s time with the Gunners was disastrous is something of an understatement. He has now returned to Spain, much to the relief of the fans who labelled him one of the worst deals in the history of the club. During the loan period under Unai Emery, there was not a single start for the forward.
The team were under the management of Arsene Wenger when the original signing was turned down, and it seems the ex-manager was onto something as Emery and his head of football Raul Sanllehi have discovered to their cost.
They signed for him in January this year despite the previous decision to deny him, which was said to be based on Wenger’s concerns that the player would not be able to impact the team in any positive way, and clearly, he was right.
Interestingly, Suarez was also rejected by both Southampton and Brighton, dashing his wish to play in the Premier League. It meant he remained at the Nou Camp for the latter half of the 2017/18 season and seemingly it was the right move.
Being a strong team, the eventual loan signing was frustrating but ultimately not damaging as such for Arsenal, but the other two teams could really have suffered without his presence on the pitch, which was largely down to injury.
Initially, Suarez struggled to put together many starts, then an injury forced him out of contention completely. He came out as a sub on six occasions and only spent 95 minutes on the field. In that time, he did not score any goals or provide any assists to other players.
It was generally rather abysmal, and when he announced just before the last few games that further injuries were keeping him out for the rest of the season it was clear, he had bought his plane ticket and blown any chance of being signed by the club.
Fans are furious at the waste of resources they suffered in the cost of Suarez’s wages and the £2m loan fee, so it was probably a good thing he was returned as there could well have been a full-scale mutiny at the Emirates.
Speaking via Twitter last month the player said: “Some issues with my groin have made things tough since the game against BATE Borisov in the Europa League…now they have forced me to stop training altogether. After various medical consultations, the conclusion has been reached that I cannot keep on pushing it and I have started a period of treatment that cannot be done alongside competitive football.”
We don’t think the Gunners will be sorry to see him go.