A ‘super-signing’ can do so much for Arsenal’s future
Arsene Wenger last week managed to cap off a thus far dismal January—both on and off the pitch—for Arsenal fans by declaring he was in favour of abolishing the January transfer window.
The Frenchman has built up a reputation of being incredibly frugal when it comes to transfers at Arsenal; not wanting to pay over the odds for players he believes are only worth in or around the initial offer he puts forward for their services. Yet, while the club are experiencing their lowest point in Wenger’s time as manager, he fails to see the extremely rewarding benefits a major signing can do for a club who are completely stagnating.
While Arsenal fans are having to come to the realisation that Champions League football could be out of reach for next season, their fierce North London rivals Tottenham are at this moment 10pts clear, and a number of extremely ineffective players continue to eat into the water-tight wage bill at the Emirates; the last thing supporters want to hear is a manager who dismisses a midway helping hand that the January transfer window offers.
On one hand, Wenger is absolutely right when he says players can sometimes look to the winter market as an easy way out. There are certainly individuals who pull on the red and white each week who are undeserving of the famous cannon. Yet, he often stubbornly fails to see the reverse and look upon the offering as a way to give managers and clubs a lift and a way out of trouble
The club are crying out for a forward-thinking, creative spark on the pitch. Robin van Persie needs help, as well as an incentive to extend his contract beyond 2013. Theo Walcott needs to know there are equally talented players waiting in the wings should he fail to overcome his dip in form, and, most importantly, the fans and the manager need a lift out of what has become an extremely spiky atmosphere at the Emirates.
Of course, there is the fear that a big money signing could completely back-fire, as we’ve seen in recent transfer windows. But surely the benefits from a big name coming into the club heavily outweigh the negatives. And fans are not necessarily screaming out for £40 million to be spent either. Lukas Podolski—who’s availability at the moment is unclear due to the upcoming Euros—could be prized from FC Koln for a reported fee in the region of £16 million. Equally there were rumours in Spain during the summer that Arsenal had agreed fees for Santi Cazorla and Juan Mata but failed to pull the trigger. In a climate where there are players moving for ridiculous, unwarranted sums of money, why were the Spanish duo not deemed good enough to take a gamble on?
While I don’t believe the club have simply run out of money, or never had any in the first place; supporters are continually reminded that a big-money signing could financially cripple the club who are striving to stay in the black. There is the notion that Arsenal can’t compete in the same market as Man City, AC Milan or Chelsea, and yet the move to the Emirates was seen as the key that would unlock that door to the elite market.
But while the club continue to raise ticket prices off the back of poor sponsorship deals during the move to Ashburton Grove, they neglect to see that a signing in the mould of Podolski, or even long-term target Eden Hazard, could have a positive impact on the club’s success both on and off the pitch. The club have recently added personnel such as Tom Fox, the Chief Commercial Officer, to oversee Arsenal’s transition into a global brand. Yet, it almost seems that the club are lacking the foresight to see the benefits big name players have. Sponsors will actively look to link themselves up with clubs who are boasting impressive European and Worldwide footballing names. Moreover, the income from merchandise will go a long way to help ease the heavy price paid in the transfer fee.
A club who are letting star players go every season, while failing to address the free-fall into the dreaded Europa League, cannot sit back and spell out every reason why a superstar should not be brought in to help the club progress. And yet, Arsenal seem to be the only major force in Europe who cannot bring in players of necessary quality when it is absolutely needed. Ricardo Alvarez, for example, didn’t snub a move to the best football league in the world because of his compatriots at Inter Milan; he saw the uncertainty surrounding the future of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. Would the outcome have been different if a major player had been bought in previous windows to perhaps help the club over the finish line for the title or even Carling Cup?
With Arsenal there is too much concern for the bank balance and not enough on the quality supporters are seeing on the pitch and in the league table come May. As the article suggests, a £30-40 million pound signing isn’t necessarily what fans are crying out for, but ambition in the market certainly is. The club may go into the red for the short-term through the purchase of real quality, but every club takes such relative gambles. It’s part and parcel of the game and is necessary for the development of any club.
Fans are always told that after a horrific defeat or a poor run of form that simply buying new players isn’t always the answer. But sometimes it is. Sometimes it absolutely is the answer.
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Totally agree with you!
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Me to.. Wenger out!
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I think Wenger got old… unfortunately.
He’s an amazing coach but he is doing silly decisions recently.
Since the CL final in 2006, Arsenal became slowly and gently an experimental reservoir and AW just wanna do it his own way. Good enough but his way isn’t working in a league where big names are bought like oranges in the market, is it?
He need to mix his way and the way that works… a couple of big names signing.. even Barcelona does. There’s no other way, he lacks ingredients in its own shake!
My illusions are gone. I support Arsenal but I’m looking forward for a new era, new players and a will to show ambitions.
4 years ago AW promised titles. I would rather see acts on the pitch than frustrating games and words.
Face it! It’s amazing to see Henry coming back but it also underlines the lack of success Arsenal endures.
Come on Arsene! You are not the only one understanding how football works. I mean no coach need a PhD in mathematics to bring success, ambition and character to a team.
So buying another striker, one who can score (..unlike Chamakh) this season is just being careful in order to avoid a crashing end of season… or should I say The crashing end of premiership season Gonners are used now to .. for a few years…
The boss should act now before his name becomes the Loss…
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very well put !! the squad is lacking in xfactor atm thats their for all to see, theirs still time for this to be corrected !! hopefully …..
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think its time for a re think for mr wrenger. love him but wish people would stop telling him what to do. i get the feeling he is just about to do something then he re thinks it if he thinks its wont be seen as his idea. but we have a foundation of young british players at the club at this present time in which to build on. one or two super signings really would put us back amongst it. wages are always the sticking point. pato i recond is up for grabs and for gods sake do not let inter get yann m villa. i will keep my fingers crossed. thats really all i can do. but full love to the arsenal. we can be there again. spurs are only going to be a few season wonder. no structure there. and rednapp will get the england job and bale and modric will be off. give them their day in the sun.
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Wenger has failed. He still buys kids like OX,park and Ryio all for future. I don’t know why he doesn’t start Ox,even as a sub. If not ,don’t buy such players. The money could have been invested in a quality player,be it a defender or mdf.
Tactically he has been outsmarted by SAF. If he plays in the same style he’s going too get hurt.If Arsenal lose again through his refusal to tweak,then I am afraid he will be a danger to Arsenal sinking further into the morass.
Then who ever comes in will have to spend a few hundred millions and clear the mess left by the FM.
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I’m afraid this season he been about being between the devil and the deep blue sea, we lost a player in Cesc we didn’t want to lose and lost the money grabber to citeh so the need for reinforcments was needed in numbers but we couldn’t ship out all the deadwood and lose 2 key players then bring in 8 new faces to start the season plus if we did move for Gotzer chelsea or citeh would have doubled our bid alla Mata. those who play football know continuity is so important this is why we couldn’t have handled too much change.
Wenger is still a great coach and its arsenals insatiable appetite to clear debts that have got us here. He still knows a good player when he sees one and for a good price but when other clubs see that we may be in for a gem of a player they take a look take a risk and pay twice what we can afford to offer, that’s happened for the last 5 seasons look at citeh’s squad how many of their entire squad has played, was linked or almost signed for us its ridiculous and as mentioned looked what happened to Mata we offered a reasonable price chelsea offered 10 million more wenger can’t help that.
Another thing is injury/unavailability take a look at this squad:
Fabianski
Sagna. Jenkinson. Vermealen. Gibbs
Gervinho. Arteta. Wilshere. Santos
Diaby
Henry
A good team yeah all our players who are not and may not start against man utd. These players are a huge loss and is why we a have taken a dip in the last 6 weeks for example no natural fullbacks for at least 9 games hard for any team not just us but this only happens to us its not the fact we have more injuries than the next team because we don’t it we have more injuries to key players and that’s just bad luck I’m afraid.
I think if Wenger does not buy heavily with quality in the summer i think a change at the helm will be required or at least the CEO and backroom staff because Wenger is still a great coach and a talent spotter but can we get those players before super rich clubs sit up and take notice.
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totally agree
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