It’s one of those days. Manchester City and Tottenham are throwing around money like it’s water and Arsenal are sitting on money like it’s, uhh, gold? Fools gold?
First, the bad news is that the Kaka deal is off… no wait, it’s back on and very close to a done deal!
I really hope City sign Kaka because that’s £100m fewer they can spend disrupting the rest of the league with their foolishness. FOOLISHNESS. Oh and yes, I got that link from L’Equipe, which my Google Reader translates for me. Suck it, non-Google reader monolinguists.
Not to be outdone, Spuds are bidding foolishness as well, offering £14m for Kenwynne Mulholland Jjones and £10m for Arsenal reject Wilson Palacios. I just want to mention that if we add up the value of all the central midfielders that Arsenal have let go for free or cheap, I swear Arsenal could buy a Kaka: £15m for Diarra, £15m for Flamini, £10m for Palacios, well, ok, 40% of a Kaka. Still, something doesn’t add up: during the period where we have let go those three players Arsene has kept Denilson, Song, and Diaby. Maybe Song is a £20m midfielder in disguise? Like he’s wearing this facade of being a slow, dopey, slack jawed, careless defensive midfielder but underneath he’s really great? I don’t know. I do know that Arsenal’s problems getting and keeping a solid defensive midfielder is starting to get on my pecs.
As for the Arshavin deal, Arsene is prepping us for the worst.
I am very hopeful … because the market closes at the end of the month, but if it does not happen, it does not happen. We have a few options available although we are not close to any of them – everything is open. Do not forget we have Rosicky, Fábregas and Walcott who are all creative and offensive players and will come back from their injuries at some stage, as will Eduardo. He has recovered very well and he would be like a new signing. For me, he is two to three weeks away.
Wenger is clearly frustrated by the situation and grasping at straws. We all know that by the time Rosicky (never), Fabregas (May), Walcott (March), and Eduardo (February) return Arsenal could be out of the Champions League and may have dropped further in the EPL.
Just as an example, we should have Eduardo back for the first leg of the Roma match and Walcott back for the second leg. Meanwhile there will be somewhere around 6 Premier League matches before both of those guys are back. Plus, Arsenal have to travel to Wales and play Cardiff in the FA Cup, before either of them return.
The point is, it’s brown trousers time, folks, and Wenger pointing out that Cesc is due to return in the last week of the year is disingenuous at best. I’d rather he didn’t say anything or just “we’re trying to sign someone” rather than bullshit me with fantasies of Fabregas dancing around midfielders in my head.
ARRRRGHHHHH I HATE TRANSFER SEASON.
As if you needed more reason to hate the whole transfer market right now, I present you with the best article of the transfer season, it has less meat than a Chicken McNugget (HA! they have since filled it in with flap about Arshavin). I don’t know what else they could add, but I love the fact that it’s a whole link to itself, for basically a headline and a teaser. Sorry, put that in with another article. Hell, put it in with this one about how Inler doesn’t think Arsenal are a top club and that’s why he refused to sign with us. Save me a click please.
Anyway, all of this just goes to show that January is no time to try to shore up the squad and Arsenal are going to need some real luck to get someone in who fits the bill(s). Sadly, right now I think our luck has just about run out.
what a wank post…COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!!!
God if Wenger is banking on the Rosicky coming back in time to help arsenal if we dont get Arshavin, then he might as well throw in the towel now.
WTF!
All of this at a time when Arsenal’s business numbers are extremely strong. No matter how you measure the team’s financial success, it would rank in the top 5 in the World. That’s right… WORLD not EPL. And that quote about Rosicky and Fabregas coming back, it is really insulting to one’s intelligence. Is Wenger turning into an asshole?!
well reasoned and insightful reply k man thanks for the hit to the site!
Arsene says that getting Fabregas, Theo, Eduardo and Rosicky back is “like being in the transfer market.”
http://tinyurl.com/778sxm
He’s right, it’s exactly like being in the transfer market… if our team was horribly thin and we had given up on any silverware this year and were looking forward to next year and it was this summer’s transfer market and we wanted to buy a bunch of players who haven’t played football in a year.
If that’s what he means by “transfer market” then yes, WE’RE IN IT BABY!
Its funny how you deride the club for ‘letting those midfielders go’ on the cheap when over the 11 years of Wenger’s reign we are the only club to have made a profit from transfer dealings while the rest of the big teams are minus hundreds of millions. Palacios wasn’t even an Arsenal player! Is it to Wengers detriment that he spotted his talent and recommended him to Bruce as he wasn’t good enough for the Arsenal? How about looking at how much we paid for Anelka, Henry, Petit, Overmars, Clichy, Cesc, Vieria etc and how much they were worth (and how muh we got in many cases)
Never said that Arsene doesn’t do fairly well in the transfer market. He’s far from perfect and for every Henry, there’s a Reyes. The profit from Anelka and company has long since been spent on the London Colney training ground and the youth academy so that’s really a moot point.
In the last three years the evidence is overwhelming that Wenger is under-valuing players and really, really, really, under-valuing defensive midfielders. £16m for Theirry Henry? In retrospect, that was a joke. Henry is probably worth £16m in gate receipts and shirt sales alone. £5m for Diarra? At the time, I defended Wenger but now? That was a huge mistake. Epic bonehead move. I don’t care if Diarra throws all the toys out of the pram, he is worth more than £5m. Even at the time I was shocked, crappy midfielders go for £5m — I think that’s what Jimmy Bullard is valued at.
I don’t know why, maybe Wenger is trying to force the world to revert back to pre-Chelsea prices, that would be like him. But whatever the reason, Wenger is wrong about player values and is seriously missing boat when it comes to proper valuation of defensive midfielders.
If the transfer problems don’t prove it, all you have to do is look at who he thinks can do the job. Diaby? No way. Denilson? Maybe, though not a true holding mid, more like a Cesc. Song? I want to like Song, I really do, but he is obviously not ready.
Get your head out of the past. Arsene needs to take a look at how he’s valuing players that’s just a fact. If we don’t, the future Henry’s and Cesc’s won’t come to us.
http://gunnerblog.com/?p=1364
Alex Song might be healthy for Hull, he’ll be like a new signing.
I can’t find the link again, but Forbe’s had a compilation of the 10 richest (highest valued) sport clubs in the world and it was interesting to note that 3 “soccer” teams made the list.
Manchester United was 1, Real Madrid 6 and Arsenal at number 7. Earlier on this year Arsenal was ranked 1 in terms of N O I and 2nd in receipts. With all these financial accolades it’s somewhat disturbing when we won’t spend to upgrade our team and depend on returning medical casualties, future potential and sub standard players so we can fight for 4th spot in the EPL rather than competing for the title.
Tim, I agree with your basic viewpoints(btw I read the telegraph a lot, you asked where I get info, the telegraph makes an effort to be honest and reliable), but recall Wenger said he was no longer interested in Inler, so it’s likely inler’s talking about other epl clubs. Wenger’s had his right cock ups, but he’s never been gauged in the market and that’s not going to change now. He’s got a ceiling for Arshavin(27) as he did for Alonso and that will be that, but what’s disturbing is the general reluctance in the marketplace, no one wants a move at the moment, I can only suspect that clubs are holding out for ‘out of this world’ prices due to city sniffing around(hughes said he wanted at least five players). I’m beginning to wring my hands a bit as it all drags out, i just hope we can snag some one, a dm, am, or winger with real class.
You’re correct in assessing our dm transfer debacles but you know what they say about hindsight. Diarra’s ability was top, his attitude however..that causes problems too. To demand to play, best to ship out. The problem with valuing him was he didn’t play much for chels or us, so hard to value him, then we won the fa cup with pompey,that changes things. I think we really messed up with flam, there’s no cosmetic that can make that one look good, a real fiasco. As for the others, you have a point but that was a different era, different market.
I’d rather we got valencia(a season ago) and put him on the wing, we need a threat out wide on the right as we just don’t have one when we really need it, which is NOW PLEASE. It’s hard to predict specific injuries but a manager should predict injuries will occur and have the reinforcements. We have let too many players go and not replaced, and while it’s ok to be picky regarding new recruits, squad depth and the value of quality utility players who can play in multiple areas is not to be sneered at(sidwell, upson bear mentioning not as mistakes but as good types to have in the team). Some fans think the club is doing fine, and in a sense it is as we’re not in dire straights, but I tend to be more realistic when i look at our general direction in the standings. This is a hugely important window but things are not falling our way and it’s troubling. I know wenger doesn’t want to sell, but to snatch a good player that we really need he might want to consider selling a player that is more luxury than immediate necessity.
It may be time for Arsene to move on to coaching the French National team, and let in some fresh blood and ideas to run Arsenal. No disrespect to Arsene as he is one of the greatest – if not THE greatest we’ve had. It is just that anybody loses sharpness after doing the same thing for too long (Ferguson the exception?) That’s why political offices have term limitations…
I think we need to obtain the creative midfield in the mold of Andrei Arshavin. The need for a defensive midfielder is echoed by me, by look at our record against top four teams; it is good enough. What we really need to focus on is breaking down teams who have 10 men behind the ball. With Cesc, Rosicky and Theo injured we have only one threat in Nasri. If we get Arshavin, we can move Nasri to center mid, Arshavin and Vela out wide and we would have genuine attacking threats both through the middle and on the flanks. I think Wenger realizes this and will add Arshavin.
The other positive it would do is it would create competition for places in the starting eleven when the injured return and heavens knows that we have needed that the past few seasons. Players have started to get too complacent and it is showing in their game performances.
Here we are half way through the transfer window and again problems everyone can see have not been addressed if Ashverin comes ok but our area we need to buy in is defensive midfielder and defender
I realy thought this would be done by now in time for the game away to Hull but just like last January and the Summer Wenger and the board are dilly dallying around all they have done over the past few years is weaken the squad Vierra,Pires,Henry,Lungburg,Giberto,Flamani springs to mind replaced with who?
The Emerates is one of the most expensive places in the world to watch football Arsenal have made a profit in the transfer window nearly every year there have even been 10 million pounds this year from sell on cluases with Diarra and Bently Where is the money???????????
Maybe just buy a couple of experienced players to give us some steel Bullard and Upson would do for now and they would cost less than Ashverin and would both i am sure jump at the chance of playing for Arsenal.
If we dont buy and we win nothing and not qualify in the first 4 then the board and Wenger should go as simple as that
Click to Edit (1 minute and 45 seconds)
I think with a little inventiveness and creativity on Arsene’s part we could field a balanced, attacking and creative team with our current components, when Gallas and Silvestre returns from injury.
For instance, take Gallas as a case in point. He played mainly at left back for Chelsea due to Wayne Bridge’s injury and performed extremely well at that position, is a decent header of the ball, has pace, field awareness and is not reluctant to go forward and shoot. Like many other players of his ilk he started out as a striker and has a pretty good engine. Why not make Gallas our main DM, recall Traore and Senderos and promote Fabianski to be the # 1 GK.
We could then trot out a team like:
Fabianski
Sagna, Toure, Djourou, Clichy
Denilson//Eboue, Nasri, Gallas, Traore/Vela
RVP
Ade
Getting Arshavin would be a plus because he can play across the midfield, except for DM, and as a support striker. Traore can play on the right or left, as can Arshavin, and can also fill in at LB if required. We basically would have three wingers in Arshavin, Vela and Traore who could definitely provide width and pace, a better DM than Song in Gallas and a balanced pair of Toure and Djourou at CB.
This would also solve the problem of playing time for both Gallas and Toure, and Silvestre and Senderos could provide backup at CB. Song would provide cover at DM and at CB if needed. Fabianski may not be better than Almunia but he does command his box a great deal more effectively and that should cut down on a few goals needlessly conceded under Amunia’s stewardship.
Won’t happen, just a thought, but one can dream. RIGHT?
caribkid – interesting thoughts. An alternative was another creative idea from Tim: Play Clichy as a DM. We can play either Gallas or Sylvestre in his current position. What Clichy may lack in experience and vision over Gallas, he will compensate with youth and stamina.
But see, all these major redoings of the squad are very difficult to implement successfully in real life. Unfortunately these are real people, not players in a video games. It’s like a re-org in a company. It may make sense on paper, but in reality, it could be a long time until things start to gel.
Related to Arsenal’s profits vs. the reluctance to spend: I wonder how Arsenal is organized as a company. It should be either a corporation or a partnership. As in any company, the board makes the decisions on what to do with yearly profits, such as re-invest, pay off debt & liabilities, pay dividends, etc. etc. Maybe the shareholders are paying back to themselves. (Perfectly legal) Since Arsenal is a privately held entity (unlike ManU), I wonder if any of this is public information. Board meeting minutes would answer all our big questions…
Hey, if we’re going to fix it, let’s fix it right. Piece-meal changes are not going to get us back to where we want to be. I think some players have to go and some have to be brought in. For me, Gallas, Senderos, and others have had their day at Arsenal and their time should be coming to an end fairly soon. Four players brought in – cb, dm, am, winger and perhaps two sold to offset bringing net cost to say 50 million quid. There are some very high quality pieces in the team now but we lack a fighting spirit, experience, pace, width, winning mentality, and LEADERSHIP. It’s not going to be an easy proposition, and Wenger prefers to stay with youth, but I think selling some youth would be good for the club as it would send the right message to the players that they shouldn’t get too comfortable and improvement is required. It is becoming ever more clear that the lack of stenghening over the latest years is a problem. I just don’t think silverware can happen without significant changes. As it is, I’m hoping we can at least bring in sufficient quality to get past villa but there appears no certainty that will happen.
This video is a teaser. Arshavin certainly is in the Arsenal mold. Check it out…
By the way, here’s that Simpson goal you were asking about…
sorry patrick, broken already.
Hmmm. Maybe I should not put any info on it. I’ll try it somewhere else.
Point of interest on the Diarra deal. Arsenal sold him for 5M and Portsmouth moved him on for 20M. It should be noted that a large piece of that 20M went back to Arsenal. That was part of the 5M deal that if Portsmouth moved him on, Arsenal would get a large piece of it. Not sure how much that was but it was supposed to be substantial.
That’s weird. That Jay Simpson video is working again. I didn’t modify anything.