Ladies and gents, I give you the new Niall Quinn…
Luca Toni.
The maths is as follows:
X: Toni is very unhappy at Bayern Munich, having failed to adjust to the German culture. He’s also fallen out with manager Louis van Gaal, who is not the most forgiving of men.
Y: Arsenal really need a big target man to do some donkey work/get on the end of crosses, as the likes of Niall Quinn and Alan Smith – useful donkeys, both – did for Arsenal in the past.
X+Y = makes perfect sense for both parties
I think Arsene Wenger could do a lot worse that put in a bid in January for Toni, who is desperate to leave Munich (ideally he’d return to Italy, but culturally London has to be a much better option than Bavaria) and also desperate to nail down a place in Italy’s World Cup squad.
Toni and Arshavin, the hottest new strike partnership in the Premier League? Stranger things have happened.
Those of you shouting at your computer screens, “But Toni is rubbish!” are missing the point slightly. Quinn and Smith were also no world beaters (indeed, I’d say Toni is better than either), but they made such a nuisance of themselves that their team-mates profited.
Inspired idea or crazy talk?
Fletch says:
“I’m a big fan of Italian food. The gaffer told me to cut out the deep-fried chocolate and eat a lot of pasta instead – I like the wee bow ties.”