Have Arsenal Really Signed Matias Suarez On A Pre-Contract Agreement?

For those of you who haven’t heard, Arsenal have reportedly secured a pre-contract agreement to sign Anderlecht striker Matias Suarez in the summer.

A well respected South American journalist, Javier Perez, claims to have spoken directly with the player, who confirmed that an agreement is in place whereby he will move to Arsenal at the end of the season for a fee believed to be in the region of £5m.

You can read the original article by Perez here, but i will give a brief overview for you. It should be added that L’Equipe have also confirmed these rumours and also say a deal is in place.

Perez claims to have spoken with the Argentinean striker directly on Monday, and the 23-year-old confirmed the Gunners wanted to bring him to London this month but he wanted to repay Anderlecht for their faith in him and see out the rest of the season with them before leaving.

So Arsenal negotiated the following agreement:

• Sign Suarez at the end of the season, for a set fee believed to be around £5m
• Arsenal can back out of the deal if the player loses form to a worrying degree
• Anderlecht can not increase the sale price should Suarez’s form improve significantly
• No clauses included whereby Anderlecht or Suarez can pull out.

Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? Arsenal apparently agreed to wait till the summer as it now gives them plenty of time to put together a case to apply for a work permit for the Argentine, who is yet to establish himself at international level so may struggle to secure a UK work permit.

However, it’s believed that Suarez could be successful in gaining a special dispensation due to the fact he was the top scorer in the Europa League last season and has been a regular first team player two years at Anderlecht, who are consistently challenging for their domestic title and playing Champions League football.

So Suarez can hardly be regarded as a youngster just starting out in his career. He’s an established player who just hasn’t been able to get past the likes of Messi, Aguero and Higuin in the national team set up.

The terms of this supposed ‘agreement’ are very favourable to Arsenal. Which leads me to question whether it really does exist or not. Would Anderlecht really sell one of their best players for as little as £5m, on a pre-contract agreement whereby if the player has an amazing second half of the season they can’t ask for more money? Surely it would be in their best interest to wait till the summer and try to auction the player off to the highest bidder?

However, a major factor in this could be the fact Arsenal and Anderlecht have a development agreement in place. So the two clubs have close ties and a very good working relationship, so their might just be some foundation to this one.

Anderlecht have come out and denied any agreement is in place, which is to be expected. I wouldn’t expect them to do anything but deny it whether it’s accurate or not. Arsenal are renowned for doing their business behind closed doors.

Suarez himself has stated he won’t leave Belgium this winter, which again goes along with this rumour that he’ll join in the summer. So there are some encouraging signs that this could be true. But i would still be very surprised if the agreement is as favourable towards Arsenal as suggested.

The next question for Arsenal fans should be; is he any good and is he going to play alongside Van Persie or is he a potential replacement?! 

I don’t know too much about Suarez, but his goalscoring record is average. 37 goals in 127 games is decent, but when you consider the quality of the Belgian league, he’s hardly pulling up trees is he? But he sure as hell better not be a direct replacement for Van Persie. It doesn’t bare thinking about, so i’m not going to say anymore on that matter.

My big worry though is that if this rumour is true, then it most likely means Arsene Wenger won’t be bringing in any more striking reinforcements this month. Sure Thierry Henry’s return has boosted everyone connected with the club. But he’s only hear till the middle of February, then what? Rely on Chamakh? No thanks.

We’ve just about got by relying on Van Persie to score the goals but we need a proper back up and we need it now, for the rest of the season. Otherwise we can kiss goodbye to the top four. Over to you Arsene….