Morning All…
The season isn’t technically over yet, but for most Arsenal fans, it has recently felt like it is – with the remaining games, it is highly unlikely that we will now finish in the top two. At the minimum, we should try and regain 2nd spot and ensure we don’t finish fourth. I can’t believe that I am writing this so soon after being a position to challenge.
In yesterday’s comments, it was interesting to see the views of others and it’s clear that there is a lot of voice in regards to changing players this summer. I know Arsene isn’t a massive fan of a lot of changes, but I really think that now, more than ever, the manager has to be ruthless both with his existing players and in the transfer market.
Forget the desire and want to save money and sacrifice the quality of the player. If we need to buy someone and it will cost £1m more than Arsene thinks it should then we need to do it anyway. As we’ve seen first hand, goalkeeping blunders this season have cost us dear. Almunia, Fabianksi and more recently Szcznesy have lost us points. If we had spent that extra £1m (reportedly) this summer, on a proper keeper, those points lost would have seen us still challenging. Yes, it’s speculation, but when you don’t buy a goalkeeper and then you have major goalkeeping issues all season, it isn’t hard to presume it’s correct to speculate.
Arsene has to change his “soft” methods in the transfer markets. Back in the day, the likes of David Dein would have been handling transfers, but now, Arsene has too much say in the bargaining process – something he shouldn’t worry himself with. £11m for Thierry Henry 10 years ago is similar to £27m on a top player in these markets. Back then, Arsene wouldn’t have been so close to the pennies to reject the deal – and it gave us a player who light up our stadium for years.
There is a lot of talk that Arshavin is a player who will be leaving this summer. His desire to leave may have increase more recently as his appearances have been limited to the substitute bench this close season. And Zenit – the club we bought him from have publicly stated they would love to take him back. Our manager and many a pundit talk about our lack of experience but in the run in, we’ve put our most experienced player in Arshavin, on the bench – and he’s the name that looks to leave the Emirates. Makes no sense to me.
Zenit St. Petersburg’s sporting director Igor Korneev said:
“Zenit’s doors are always open for Andrei. If his situation at Arsenal does not improve and he’s not comfortable in London, we can study this issue in time for next season”.
We’ll see what happens there.
The sentiment of many people is that a few players must move on, but more importantly, the players we bring in will make the biggest difference. The question is which players can make a difference? I’m been really trying to figure this out. It’s a tough one. Something that I want to get your opinion on… a little bit of football manager fun… for a £40m budget, who would you bring in that would make that difference that we really need?
Which player, which two players or which three players could come in on a relatively mediocre budget and turn our also rans into title winners?
I’ll join you in the comments later today to debate…
