Arsenal scout desperately wanted Tottenham's Son Heung-Min

Outside of last Sunday's Bournemouth match, Tottenham Hotspur have played their best football of the year when Son Heung-Min has been on the pitch. Son's transfer was a surprise devoid of rumor; it was a swift, decisive, and somewhat shocking deal for the lilywhites. A pacy and relentless attacker, Son has the technical acumen and goal scoring proficiency that Spurs desperately needed in their team. Combine his pedigree, potential, and bargain basement price (just over 20 million pounds) and Son is an absolute coup for Tottenham.

Do you want to know who else thinks that 20 million pounds for Son Heung-Min is a steal? Arsenal Football Club. Here is what their scouts, who reportedly watched Son nearly thirty times, had to say about Tottenham's latest signing according to The Secret Footballer:

• Scares the life out of defences. Feet are scarily quick, can turn in any direction.
• Keeps his shape, good discipline, counters quickly, carries the ball a long way up the pitch, aware of team-mates in better positions.
• Scores goals from great positions in the box that others don't take up (Ljungberg). Hard to pick up and track.
• Fit, doesn't stop working.
• Different to anything that we have in the building.
• CAN PLAY FOR US ALL DAY LONG!!

In the sincerest of senses, we couldn't agree more. The Scum were dead on with their appraisal of our South Korean star, but failed to act. A bizarre move, yet an unsurprising one if we track the recent transfer policy of Arsene Wenger. Arsenal have always bought young players, but they seem to have shifted away from buying anyone who isn't either extremely young or firmly established. That burgeoning talent, who still has room to grow, but has seen tangible success? — Nope, not interested.

"It's Arsene [Wenger]," the scout said. "He's so indecisive it's frightening. We had [Morgan] Schneiderlin done and dusted last January and, by the summer, the gaffer had changed his mind. Son was 100 per cent perfect for us."

"MAIS NON Monsieur! Schneiderlin et Son sont trop cher!" exclaims Wenger as he lowers his head, slowly consumed by the zipper of his stadium jacket, probably.

Sure Arsenal will continue to raid the open market for promising seventeen year-olds, but you don't see them actively pursuing players who are right on the cusp of stardom. They opened their purse for Özil and Sanchez, and while these two were viewed as great signings at the time, they were footballers already in their prime. The same could be said for their very public, very pathetic, and very humiliating pursuit of Karim Benzema. Even Danny Welbeck, who might have fit that younger, established type player, was already a known Premier League quantity by the time he joined Woolwich.

The Gooners have more cash and clout in world football than Spurs at this juncture, but the NDP will hopefully strike a blow against that soon. For all the rhetoric spewed against Daniel Levy's frugality, he has taken aim at the right type of player for Tottenham Hotspur. Even when he has tried so hard, this is something that that Gewürztraminer-fiending Alsatian has failed to do. May his failures long continue. Santé!