Getting creative now takes the form of Umut Meras
Umut Meras of Turkey during the UEFA EURO 2020 qualifier group C qualifying match between France v Turkye at Stade de France on October 14, 2019 in Paris, France(Photo by ANP Sport via Getty Images)
Arsenal may have to get pretty creative this coming transfer window, but Umut Meras is a whole new level of creativity. Even for Arsenal.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, this summer transfer window is going to be an odd one for Arsenal. Mainly because it’s near-pointless to start planning anything now without knowing where the season is going to end up.
For instance, if the Gunners finish in the Champions League, they may yet keep Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, they’ll have a lot more money to fling around, they won’t have to dig under too may rocks and search for that many bargain bin solutions to find their answers.
However, if they can’t make it into the Champions League, they are going to have to get creative. Money won’t be as prevalent, they’ll have to match their sales with replacements. But without money and with a poor sales record, it’s going to be a dicey situation that leads to some head-scratching signings.
Arsenal may need creativity but… Umut Meras?
Such as Umut Meras, who even my endlessly optimistic transfer mind had trouble being immediately in support of.
Meras is a leftback, which apparently we need just about as much as anything else, who plays in Ligue 2 for Le Havre. Now, don’t let your Ligue 2 jollies loose just yet. Unlike Matteo Guendouzi, who made the same move two years ago, Meras is 24-years-old. Well in advance of where Guendouzi was at that point.
But age isn’t everything. It’s the position that has me scratching my head still yet. I haven’t understood the leftback fascination at all. The Layvin Kurzawa rumors made me borderline angry and now that it’s nearing being a real thing, I’m just trying to accept it.
And now Umut Meras comes into the picture, valued at less than £1m.
I don’t get it. Maybe there’s something special about Meras that no one has seen throughout his time in Turkey and France. But even if there is, I cannot imagine a scenario where they would be preferred to either Kieran Tierney or Sead Kolasinac. Both of whom have injury problems, yes, but I’d still rather bank on one or the other being healthy and if not, oh, there’s also this kid named Bukayo Saka.
Thus far, this is just an isolated whisper in some far-off corner of the transfer rumor mill. But the fact that it even hit the surface is bizarre. Where are we going with this?
