So, life after Adebayor starts today and it’s been a momentous couple of days which has seen the Togan International, who signed for us about 3 years ago for £7m sold to Man City for a whopping £25m. Personally I’ve been caught in two emotions regarding the player – in one way I didn’t want him to leave and am sad to see him go, in my eyes, he was an Arsenal player and couldn’t really see him playing for another English team – but at the same time, the second emotion is one of gladness to see a player who didn’t want to play for the club, didn’t like the fans, couldn’t stay onside to save his life and of course was sold for 3.5 times his initial purchase price.
I would be concerned if we didn’t sign anyone now having needed a defensive midfielder before the season started and having lost our “star striker”. The return of Eduardo may prove an adequate replacement – when fit and if stays fit, but we are going into 4 competitions and should go in to all competitions with a will to win, which means a decent strikeforce and back up strikeforce… Arsene did speak about the forward positions saying:
“We’re not on the verge of signing anybody, but I’m able to spend the money if we find the right players,” he said. “We’re not in a hurry because we have a big squad. We’ll see in pre-season if we need to make any additions.
“If we need to add something we will. Chamakh is one of the players we’ve followed and if we need to go for a striker he’s a possibility,” said Wenger. “We’re keeping an eye on him.
“We have Rosicky and Eduardo back, so we’ve lost a big striker but have gained two offensive players who were absent last season. We also have Nicklas Bendtner, Andrey Arshavin, Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott who can play striker,” he said. “We have top players we can use as strikers.”
Strange to see he didn’t mention Carlos Vela – it may have been a simple slip of the tongue or may indicate that Vela is seen by Arsene as a left winger. Whether a change of formation is on the cards may be something to think about too. If Sanchez Watt or Jay Simpson do step up this season then we have a better compliment but my feeling is that we should go for Chamakh, simply because at the price he is at, he is a simple gamble, a decent player and I’d prefer a slightly larger squad than if we didn’t sign anyone…
The player today saying:
“If it happens with them it’s great, otherwise it does not bother me to play for Sunderland or Blackburn.”
It should do – but hey, you’re being diplomatic, so it’s understandable…
More later today… its 0545 in London, 0045 in Boston, I’ll catch some ZZZs, the wedding is tomorrow but may be able to post pre-wedding…
