Arsenal’s Silly Season: Separating fact from fiction

The “Silly Season” is well and truly upon us. That term has been used regularly by football fans and journalists for years, whenever the transfer window is open. It’s the time when rumors, half- truths and truly hard to believe stories are widely circulated with few if any facts. True to form, the silly season this year is already reaching ridiculous proportions.

The actual definition according to the Free Dictionary is as follows:

silly season (n)

(Journalism & Publishing) Brit a period, usually during the hot summer months, when journalists fill space reporting on frivolous events and activities

Any slow news period characterized by trivial news or no news.

The football tabloids are having a field day this summer. It’s been hard to keep up, but I’ve been keeping a tally of which players will reportedly soon be “arriving” in North London and those that are “looking to leave” for other destinations.

Here is just a sampling of the players that allegedly are being pursued by Arsenal:

Saint-Étienne defender William Saliba - Metro, May 27th

Leganes forward Youssef En-Nesyri - talkSPORT, June 3rd

Belgian winger Yannick Carrasco from the Chinese Super League - talkSPORT, June 8th

Midfielder Dennis Praet and defender Joachim Andersen from Sampdoria - talkSPORT, June 8th

Striker Gabriel Martinelli from Brazilian club Ituano - Express, June 19th

Torino and Italy defender Armando Izzo - Express, June 20th

PSG central defender Presnel Kimpembe - Express, June 21st

Real Madrid central midfielder Dani Ceballos - Metro, June 24th

Rennes midfielder Benjamin Bourigeaud - The Mirror, June 24th

French forward Bilel Hassaini from Nancy - The Sun, June 25th

Borussia Dortmund defender Dan-Axel Zagadou - Metro, June 25th

FC Basel defender Eray Comert - Metro, June 26th

Monaco winger Keita Balde - The Mirror, June 27th

With a mere £45m transfer budget available, it sure seems like Arsenal’s shopping list is never ending; at least according to the silly season rumor mill.

Perhaps the most ridiculous, misconstrued and made up Arsenal click bait stories thus far involve Lucas Torreira and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Torreira recently stated that he was having a hard time adjusting to life in England, and preferred the weather in Italy. The tabloids took that statement and invented the story that “Lucas Torreira tells Arsenal he wants to leave after AC Milan submit first offer”. Torreira denies this is true.

Today the Express ran a story entitled, Arsenal fans turn on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and order mega Manchester United transfer. According to the writer, “Aubameyang is wanted by Manchester United this transfer window.” Talk about twisting the facts. I want a mansion and a yacht, that doesn’t mean I’m going to get it.

We shall see who else Arsenal will be linked with as the silly season rolls on, but roll on it will, whether we want it to or not.