After the euphoria of signing Mesut Ozil died down, Arsenal fans will have come back down to earth again when they realised that Nicklas Bendtner was still at the club.
The 25-year-old Denmark international striker has not featured in the Gunners first team for over two years, his last appearance coming in the 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool in August 2011.
He spent most of the 2011-12 campaign on loan at Sunderland, where he found the net eight times in 28 Premier League appearances, before joining Juventus last term, although he only started two Serie A matches for the Italian champions after picking up an injury.
Many Gunners fans would have thought they had seen the last of Bendtner, but a player who has been with the club since 2005 is still at the Emirates Stadium although he does not appear to be in Arsene Wenger’s first-team plans.
It seems amazing that in a summer that has seen Wenger shed a host of players – including Denilson, Andrei Arshavin, Vito Mannone, Sebastian Squillaci, Andre Santos, Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh – Bendtner is still at the club, despite strenuous efforts to get him off the wage bill.
Bendtner, who is believed to earn more than £50,000 a week, has vowed to “give everything” to Arsenal this season after failing to secure a summer move to Eintracht Frankfurt, Hull City or favourites for relegation in the Unibet betting odds Crystal Palace.
But Arsenal fans will be wary of such words from a player who famously described himself as being “one of the best strikers in the world” when his displays on the pitch proved the contrary.
If Wenger could have agreed a loan deal with Chelsea for Demba Ba then Bendtner would surely have left the Gunners but he now has the chance to add to his 99 Premier League appearances and 22 goals for the club.