Quantcast
Home   >   Transfer News   >   Arsenal To Miss Out On Romanian Hitman?

Arsenal To Miss Out On Romanian Hitman?

By on September 16, 2013

Some more transfer gossip for you to digest this evening Arsenal fans with the Mirror reporting that we could miss out on the free transfer signing of Romanian striker Ciprian Marica.

Despite the transfer window closing earlier this month, clubs are still able to sign free agents and widespread reports in recent days have suggested that we are closing in on Marica. The 27-year-old left Schalke at the end of last season and his agent, Ioan Becali, claimed last week that he was close to making a move to the Emirates.

“Marica is a really great striker who has already got experience in western European football and so it’s natural that big clubs are eyeing his career. He’s close to joining Arsenal , but we have to wait for the next week.” [source: Mirror]

However, it seems we could be set to miss out with the Mirror claiming that Fiorentina have made a late move to sign the experienced forward. The Serie A side are on the look out for another striker after Mario Gomez was ruled out for up to 12 weeks with a serious knee injury and Marica has emerged as their top target.

Our current striker situation could be best described as ‘precarious’ with us heavily reliant on Olivier Giroud staying fit. We are extremely thin up front, so if we could bring in another option outside of the window it’s worth considering.

Marica is a striker of international quality who has previously played with the likes of Shakhtar Donetsk, Stuttgart and Schalke, while he has also scored 22 goals in 64 games for Romania, so he’s certainly for plenty of experience behind him.

He wouldn’t be the world class striker we were hoping for during the summer but he’s certainly better than nothing, but any deal would have to depend on the contract he was looking for. Being a free agent I suspect he’ll be looking for big wages and a lengthy contract, which is unlikely to appeal to Arsene Wenger and perhaps explains why we haven’t yet tied up this move.

I’d prefer we have another striker available to challenge Giroud over the coming weeks but I have the feeling Wenger will hold out and try to get by until January when he’ll have another go at trying to bring in a forward of real quality.

Click here to read more Arsenal transfer gossip

Do you think we should sign Marica or make do until January? 

5 Comments