How silly it could have been

End of season is near, and Arsenal are fighting to qualify for next season's UEFA Champions League. It's not good enough for many Gooners, of course. For some, the season ended when the team were out of the running for trophies.

Yesterday, Arsenal beat a top 10 side away after a gritty performance against a good footballing side. And again, 1-0 over Fulham wasn't good enough for - I presume - the same Gooners who expect better every game, every season.

And even after Arsenal have spent millions and millions of pounds in the last few windows, they still crave more players, better players and more to the point, someone else's players that they've heard of.

The media cater to this. At the time of writing, 127 players have been linked to a summer transfer to Arsenal between February 1st and today. They're all here, alphabetically.

Let's just imagine what could have been if only a few of the targets from the last few years had actually come to Arsenal to play. And what if not everyone who left the club had gone. What would the first XI look like?

We might have Mark Schwarzer in goal. The Australian veteran was heavily linked with Arsenal all through the summer of 2010, and was lastly linked on New Year's Eve of 2011 in a speculative piece in the Independent.

We could have Kieran Richardson as left full-back. It would be a typical Arsène Wenger move to make a creative winger into a fast defender. And he was linked with Arsenal by the Daily Mirror as late as January 2012.

In defence, how about Brede Hangeland partnering Philippe Senderos? The Norway captain is another darling of the tabloids when it comes to supposed Arsenal interest. He was lastly linked seven months ago, while in contract talks with Fulham. Senderos struggled with game time and was sold by Arsenal in 2010, but what if he had kept his form from the Champions League campaign of 2006? I mean, he couldn't have been worse than persisting with William Gallas or Johan Djourou, could he?

Steven Sidwell was an Arsenal youngster who chose to leave, even at a time when he was on the brink of the first team. In 2004 the media were crying out for English talent at the club, and the Brady Bunch had started to deliver in the youth tournaments. But Sidwell went to Reading to get first team football. Wenger compared him to Frank Lampard, remember? What a player to have today! Perhaps in tandem with Urby Emanuelson of Milan, linked to Arsenal as late as January this year by the Daily Express.

Last summer, Dimitar Berbatov could have chosen Arsenal after leaving Manchester United. The Observer wrote the story, after all. Perhaps he could now have played up front for the Gunners! Even in tandem with Bryan Ruíz, linked with Arsenal in August 2011 by the Daily Mail.

By now, this is getting way past silly. But the papers that print this are sillier. If they were to be believed, Arsenal would only be one Dutch manager and two loanees from the Eredivisie away from being Fulham.

In this instance, I prefer the winning team, thank you very much!