Usmanov – Melo + Blaise = Bananas Transfer

Come on dude, hit the red arrow on time and we get a huge bonus!

HA HA! I love the smell of butt-hurt in the morning.

In yesterday’s column I said that we should be prepared for the full court press of Usmanov and his cronies calling us “spendthrift Arsenal” and reminding the world of their philosophy that “only a big money backer can get Arsenal fans a trophy.”And sure enough, there are stories all over the web about Wenger £60m Hit and my personal favorite Usmanov Bemused by Arsenal Rejection.

Let’s make some things clear. First, this is an inflated market — with Real Madrid, AC Milan, and United tossing cash around like water, player valuations aren’t in line with what they should be. Should Arsenal pay over the odds for players? We don’t have a good track record when it comes to doing that, so I would be reluctant to splash big cash in this off season.

Second, if other clubs hear that Arsenal got a £75m injection of cash, then suddenly guys like Blaise Matuidi go from £2.5m to £10m. And guys like Melo start demanding bigger salaries in addition to their hyper inflated transfer fees. Basically, we’re wasting money in order to appease a few vocal fans.

Third, it’s typically distasteful of Usamanov to tell everyone beforehand that it’s a £100m rights issue, intended to pay down debt, that would free up some money every year for player purchases when in reality it was a £75m rights issue, that would all be blown on inflated player transfers, and not actually provide any further financial stability.

And then! The fat f*cking cherry on top of the hot fudge sundae, his thinly veiled threat which even goes back again on their position.

Based on financial information that only they have, the board have informed us that they are confident they have adequate financial resources to support the manager to strengthen the squad, to weather the property downturn, to renegotiate the Highbury Square loan on good terms and to deal with the continuing difficult economic conditions

I mean come on, if Wenger was supposed to get £60m in transfer money, that would only leave £15m to support all those other items. Which would be impossible. Besides which, it’s not a secret that Arsenal already have over £100m in cash reserves. It’s not like they’re exactly hiding this information, when they make it publicly available at the end of every year.

Really this is just PR bullshiat intended to get a few fans riled up and judging from the comments I see all around the web it’s worked.

Chillax and listen to the words of Ivan Gazidis, he’s a smart guy:

Simply spending money in the transfer market does not make a team or guarantee success. The focus is still on developing young talent.

As I have pointed out before Arsenal spend as much money as Spurs every year, though entirely in player salaries. This is our current model, we buy selectively, bring players along, and pay them well. Other clubs, like Spuds, don’t bring anyone along, and spend madly in the transfer market in the hopes of signing a pot of gold. Has it worked for them?

Well, they did get that 5-1 win over Arsenal a few years ago and a Carling Cup trophy. Huzzah…

Funny enough, even though we’re supposedly broke as a biatch we’re still being linked with all kinds of players. First, the Melo situation seems to have taken another turn and talks with Juve have apparently broken off.  I have to wonder if Fiorentina isn’t playing both Arsenal and Juve against each other in the press here. There sure does seem to be some smoke and maybe Arsenal did make a bid, but I’m not sure we’re still on the player’s trail.

Especially since all the world seems to think we’ve leveled a £2.5m bid for Blaise Matuidi. Going so far as to report that a meeting between Arsene and Blaise took place today.

I’m not sure if Wenger’s going to be buying this guy or Lorik Cana but remember all the stuff I said about Lorik Cana yesterday? You can erase all that because Blaise is a young African Francophone. You tell me which player Arsene Wenger is more likely to buy?

There’s also some weird report that Arsenal are supposedly on the trail of Sebastien Bassong. I don’t think there’s much to this story. First off, Arsenal would have to clear out some of our central defenders to make room for him and while I do think that Senderos is probably on his way out, Arsene has been adamant about keeping this group together. So, unless we lose both Gallas and Toure in addition to Senderos, I’d be surprised to see another central defender come in. Second, it’s the player claiming that Arsenal are after him based on a conversation that took place in January. Yeah…

I’m not linking to the two bullshiat stories that have Cesc going to either Barca or Real Madrid, because they are bullshiat.

I will, however, end this with some good news! I always admit when I’m wrong. In fact, I love being wrong because basically I’m a pessimist and tend toward the negative interpretation of events so when I’m wrong, that usually means something really kick ass has just happened. And something kick ass, has, in fact, just happened!

Last year, I predicted that Thomas Rosicky would never play for Arsenal again and just today Rosicky has shot down my pessimism saying that he’s in the best shape of his life and ready to push Nasri and Walcott for a spot on the wings. I’m excited for him. Hell, I’m excited for the fans, I mean can you imagine the roar of the crowd as Arshavin, van Persie, Rosicky and Cesc bear down on a club like Sunderland?

I can and I think it’s going to be a good year.

Related articles