Ahead of tomorrow's trip to Old Trafford to face Man United, Arsene Wenger has steered Arsenal into the group stages of the Champions League with a very good result away at Udinese. However tomorrow they face a different animal altogether, there’ s no doubt that Sir Alex Ferguson has smelt blood and the fact of the matter is that due to injury, suspension but more than anything reluctance in the transfer market, Arsenal face the league champions with an inept squad of players. I fear for the Arsenal tomorrow, I really do. The scoreline could get silly…
Arsenal’s defense was once again suspect during the week and they also lacked creativity in midfield. At this stage there isn’t even any point in getting animated about the situation, they need a centre back, possibly two and a left sided full back. I’m sure Wenger has recognized this but the question on everyone’s lips is why hasn’t he gone and got one?
There has been interest in Everton’s Phil Jagielka, Birmingham’s Scott Dann, Blackburn’s Christopher Samba and just this week, Bolton’s Gary Cahill. How not even one of these transfers has been pushed through baffles not only me but the whole of football, but I think I have an idea as to what goes on in Wenger’s head.
Being the economist that he is, Wenger loves a bargain, always has, the only big money that I remember him spending was roughly £16million on Jose Antonio Reyes back in 2004 and a similar amount on Andriy Arshavin back in 2009. Wenger singed Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax back in 2009 for £10million and that has turned out to be a real coup. So essentially I think that he is looking for something the same hence the measly offer of £6million for Gary Cahill during the week and a cheeky £10million offer for Phil Jagielka earlier in the summer. Far be it for me to tell Arsene Wenger what to do but I think he needs to realize that he needs a centre back and just bite the bullet and get one in. Take Man United and their signing of Phil Jones or even Liverpool’s signing of Stewart Downing. United probably felt they were paying over the odds at £16.5million for Jones as Liverpool probably did when they paid £20million for Downing. The point is that they got the player anyway despite going slightly over budget because both teams needed players in those positions. Wenger may have to accept that as genius as he is at unearthing these gems of players for little money and turning them into world class players, there simply isn’t any out there at the moment and with four days left in the transfer window, they need players to come in, simple as.
What is important here is that Wenger the economist steps back from the financial position of the club and concentrates on the football. What Wenger needs is a strong chairman of chief executive, be it Ivan Gazidis or whoever it is, to put their arm around him and say, “Look, if we need a centre back, central midfielder, striker, whatever, we’ll go and get him and if we have to pay a couple of million more than what we think he’s worth then so be it, you concentrate on the football” That is what would happen at most other clubs, Kenny Daglish identified Andy Carroll last January and bought him, £35million was a serious amount of money for a relatively unproven player, but Daglish got his man because Liverpool needed a striker, simple.
In recent weeks, Arsenal have collected £34million from the sale of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona and around £24million following Samir Nasri’s departure to Manchester City. They have lost arguably their two best players and that money needs to be reinvested in a central defender, a left back, a creative central midfielder and a striker. That’s four players with four days left in the window so that’s unlikely to happen, consequently Arsenal supporters may have to settle for a centre half and a midfielder or even worse still, Gunners fans may have to face the possibility that come midnight on Wednesday when the transfer window closes, Arsenal will be left with the same squad of players that they have now.
I really think that Arsenal will struggle to maintain their top four status this year even if players come in within the next few days, I also feel that they have to accept the fact that they have become a selling club. Fabregas and Nasri this year, Adebayor and Toure a couple of years back and before that Alexander Hleb and Mathieu Flamini. You look back at the early days of Wenger's reign, were Arsenal a selling club? maybe, Overmars and Petit left for Barcelona, Nicolas Anelka left for Real Madrid, but what was different back then was when Overmars left, Pires came in, when Anelka departed, Henry arrived. Quality was replaced with quality… We saw what happened Liverpool when Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano left and were not not properly replaced - they lost their top four status in the Premier League. I belive a similar fate awaits this Arsenal side beacuse arguably their two best players have left and who has come in? Nobody…
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