Arsenal Wanted To Sign Pepe Reina In 2010

Interesting stuff. The player wanted to go, Arsenal made a £20m bid, but Liverpool refused, fearing it would dissuade new buyers.
Overall, I'm fine with not signing him. We saved the £20m, and Szcz is almost as good as Reina and certainly will be better in 5 years time, if not sooner.
But we really wanted to be shot of Almunia, eh? Why didn't we start with Szcz earlier, Arsene?

7 months ago Aidan Gibson 5 comments 0 recs |

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Not exactly a vote of confidence in Almunia, I wonder if it affected him at all.

But hey Wenger realized that it was a spot of need and went after one of the best. So it didn’t work out, life goes on

by Scrupio on Oct 9, 2011 12:42 PM EDT reply actions

So selling Spain's number two (or three) keeper would dissuade potential buyers?

Eh, I’m not really buying that excuse from them. Reina is a solid keeper and has been for a number of years, but it’s not like Liverpool were weighing offers for someone more influential like Stevie Gerrard.

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by Twin Cities Hawk on Oct 9, 2011 1:55 PM EDT reply actions

I'm pretty much okay with this

I like that we made the attempt, but I also like that Szczesny is the man in charge currently. Cheap and awesome is a pretty good combination.

To answer the “why not Szczesny earlier” question, I presume the reason was because it was believed that he wasn’t totally ready to take over yet. The fact that we thought Reina was better than Almunia doesn’t necessarily mean that it was a good idea to start a 20-year-old with basically no experience (although in retrospect, we now know that he was already better than Almunia). As little love as I have for Almunia as a goalkeeper, it does make some sense.

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by Thomas Wachtel on Oct 9, 2011 11:40 PM EDT reply actions