Arsenal

[épieur]

"The market will be hyperactive because everyone believes financial fair play will happen soon. So we are quickly doing the last buying before the stores will be closed. And for the first time for a while, I will be very active, too." - Wenger, may 24

 

"Financially, we're in a strong position. We have resources to spend. We're certainly not sitting there saying 'Let's hold back on our resources for some reason.' Why would we? The resources are there. - Gazidis, July 18

 

The talk at the start of the summer was a 40m transfer budget for Wenger. Now, Wenger has been active. He has signed:

 

Carl Jenkinson £1.2M

Jon Toral £0.35M (Academy player)

Héctor Bellerín £0.4M (Academy player)

Gervinho £10.6M

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain £12M

Joel Campbell £0.9M

Park Chu-Young £3.0M

André Santos £6.2M

Per Mertesacker £8.9M

Yossi Benayoun Loan

Mikel Arteta £10m

 

11 players signed, for a total of 53.5m. However, balance it against out-going transfers:

 

Jens Lehmann Retired Free transfer

Thomas Cruise Unattached Free transfer

Mark Randall Chesterfield Free transfer

Roarie Deacon Sunderland Free transfer

Gaël Clichy Manchester City £7M

Wellington Levante Loan

Denílson São Paulo Loan

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas Ipswich Town £1.1M

James Shea Dagenham and Redbridge Loan

Jamie Edge West Bromwich Albion Free transfer

Samuel Galindo Gimnàstic de Tarragona Loan

Kyle Bartley Rangers Loan

Cesc Fàbregas Barcelona £35M

Emmanuel Eboué Galatasaray £3M

Carlos Vela Real Sociedad Loan

Pedro Botelho Rayo Vallecano Loan

Samir Nasri Manchester City £22M

Armand Traoré Queens Park Rangers £1.5M

Henri Lansbury West Ham United Loan

Gilles Sunu Lorient Undisclosed

Joel Campbell Lorient Loan

Nicklas Bendtner Sunderland Loan

 

 

22 players have left the club this summer, 10 of them on loan, for a total income of £69.5m. Bear in mind that Arsenal's wage structure is heavily tilted towards youngsters. They pay them a lot more than most other clubs in order to attract them.

 

So not only has Arsenal summer seen them net a £16m profit, they've also done an even more thorough job this summer than we have of clearing out players to lift pressure from the wagebill. If you look at it like-for-like in the first team, this is what has changed:

 

In attacking midfield/forward positions, Fabregas, Nasri, Bendtner and Vela have left the club. They have been replaced by Benayoun, Arteta, Gervinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Park.

 

In midfield, Denilson has left. He was not replaced.

 

Eboue has left. He has been replaced by Jenkinson.

 

Clichy and Traore have left. They have been replaced by André Santos.

 

Per Mertesacker has been added to central defence.

esacker £8.9M

Yossi Benayoun Loan

Mikel Arteta £10m

 

11 players signed, for a total of 53.5m. However, balance it against out-going transfers:

 

Jens Lehmann Retired Free transfer

Thomas Cruise Unattached Free transfer

Mark Randall Chesterfield Free transfer

Roarie Deacon Sunderland Free transfer

Gaël Clichy Manchester City £7M

Wellington Levante Loan

Denílson São Paulo Loan

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas Ipswich Town £1.1M

James Shea Dagenham and Redbridge Loan

Jamie Edge West Bromwich Albion Free transfer

Samuel Galindo Gimnàstic de Tarragona Loan

Kyle Bartley Rangers Loan

Cesc Fàbregas Barcelona £35M

Emmanuel Eboué Galatasaray £3M

Carlos Vela Real Sociedad Loan

Pedro Botelho Rayo Vallecano Loan

Samir Nasri Manchester City £22M

Armand Traoré Queens Park Rangers £1.5M

Henri Lansbury West Ham United Loan

Gilles Sunu Lorient Undisclosed

Joel Campbell Lorient Loan

Nicklas Bendtner Sunderland Loan

22 players have left the club this summer, 10 of them on loan, for a total income of £69.5m. Bear in mind that Arsenal's wage structure is heavily tilted towards youngsters. They pay them a lot more than most other clubs in order to attract them.

 

So not only has Arsenal summer seen them net a £16m profit, they've also done an even more thorough job this summer than we have of clearing out players to lift pressure from the wagebill. If you look at it like-for-like in the first team, this is what has changed:

 

 

In attacking midfield/forward positions, Fabregas, Nasri, Bendtner and Vela have left the club. They have been replaced by Gervinho, Benayoun, Arteta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Park.

 

In midfield, Denilson has left. He was not replaced.

 

Eboue has left. He has been replaced by Jenkinson.

 

Clichy and Traore have left. They have been replaced by André Santos.

 

Per Mertesacker has been added to central defence.

 

Of those, I would say Mertesacker is the only signing that has in any way strengthened them this summer. The rest are sideway steps or downgrades.

 

How on earth can the Arsenal board get away with this? This is frankly as bad as what G&H were doing to us. They've lost two world class players for a total sum of 57m. Their direct replacements, Arteta and Benayoun, have cost them 10m. Undoubtedly on lower wages as well. If the board did not intend to spend, why on earth has Wenger scattered his resources on players like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Park that he didn't really need? If they did, why on earth did he settle for such average replacements for two of his three most important players?

 

Arsenal's summer has to be one of the worst I can recall for any top club in many years. That it came on the back of a season finish where Arsenal imploded and one imagines that all of them must be sick of playing with all these youngsters can't be good for squad morale either.

 

Wnenger is very good at making teams better than the sum of their parts, but I think he has stretched himself too far here.

 

 

 

[_00_deathscar]

There are only two answers:

1. The money is there, but Wenger is insane.

 

2. The money isn't there, and Wenger is a coward in not outing the board.

[Leo No.8]

Its an odd business really. Either Wenger is loyal to the point of being daft, agreeing to play along to this line that the money is there but he doesn't want to spend it (which IMO doesn't ring true with his ego). Or the money really isn't there and Wenger really doesn't like spending it, because it doesn't tally with his vanity project (which IMO does add up in relation to his ego).

[CarraLegend]

Theyve had a dreadful, dreadful summer. Will be a serious f*** up if we dont finish above them.

[yellow jumper]

they just have a dithering, control freak of a manager who hates confrontation, and no one aggressive enough on the executive or playing side to compensate. it's a historically conservative club, being managed by a man that's so no risk, he's prepared to risk everything.

 

i used to think wenger should just move upstairs, but i now think that he already has to an extent, and that's a massive part of their problem.

 

should imagine they'll improve. interesting that he's quickly got in some older players, if not bigger characters. there's no chance he'll confront the problems that have undermined them since the last of the great back 5 left, they'll just have to hope there's a player in there who can step up on that front.

[Barnes' left foot]

Theyve had a dreadful, dreadful summer. Will be a serious f*** up if we dont finish above them.

 

Exactly.

 

I think Wenger went into this season thinking that he would be able to persuade Fabregas to stay for another season, and get Nasri & Clichy to sign contract extensions. Once they all decided to leave, he seemed to have no back up plan and probably thought that he could see the season through with what he had and had just bought (Gervinho).

 

The result against the Mancs really f***ed with his head and the result of that was the scramble in the last few days to get players in.

 

Would he have signed Benayoun & Arteta if they hadn't been battered by the Mancs? I don't think so.

[Rimbeux]

Very good analysis. I think Wenger truly believed he could talk the star pair round and was knocked for six when they went as Barnes Left Foot says. Earlier in the window on their tour he told assembled journos that they would not both be leaving and said something like Arsenal could not be considered a big club if they allowed that to happen.

Edited September 1, 2011 by Rimbeux

[Tones]

I think they're weaker than they were last year. and they weren't great last year. I will be very disappointed if we don't Finnish above them this year.

[Conrad]

I think they're weaker than they were last year. and they weren't great last year. I will be very disappointed if we don't Finnish above them this year.

 

We don't have Hyypia anymore

[Rimbeux]

I think they're weaker than they were last year. and they weren't great last year. I will be very disappointed if we don't Finnish above them this year.

 

 

Last year was an odd league, because the Mancs and Chelsea did nothing in the market of note, Chelsea were actively trying to implement their youth program and remove a lot of vets. Spurs were failry stagnant and we had a trauma going on. I think it gave Arsenal a false sense of security and I think the events elsewhere as well as with them has contributed to a feeling they've been left trailing.

[Tones]

We don't have Hyypia anymore

 

Oops, touch screen phones for you there.

[Damian_de]

Per Mertesacker has been added to central defence.

 

Of those, I would say Mertesacker is the only signing that has in any way strengthened them this summer. The rest are sideway steps or downgrades.

I know there are a few Mertesacker fans on here but IMO even that statement is doubtful. He's just a big lump in my eyes, and it won't be long until he makes a nice high profile gaffe to lose them a game.

 

They defo panicked after the result last weekend. Might have been even better for us if they had lost narrowly.

[Sion]

Arteta is a massive panic buy and not a patch on Fabregas. Can't understand it. Completely un-Wenger.

 

When all fit their first team must be something like

 

Szc

Sagna Verm Mert Santos

Song Wilshere Arteta

Gervinho RVP Walcott

 

Which is very like us last year

 

Like last year with us Arsenal fans have also convinced themselves they're alright and will finish 4th. Despite replacing their two best players with Arteta and Benayoun! How bad does that sound;

Akin to selling Mascherano and Alonso and signing Aquilani and Poulson.

'everything will be fine'...no it won't.

[drdooom]

The Arsenal fans I know are pretty far from thinking everything will be fine. Doom and gloom amongst them to rival that of our worst Roy days.

[muleskinner]

That other future england full back they produced Kerrea Gilbert has ended up at Yeovil via Portland Timberwolves and various other League 1 & 2 clubs.

[yellow jumper]

i think another manager would make more of their defensive options than wenger has. remains to be seen how mertesaker shapes up, has to be a suspicion he won't help that much if they continue to play open, without pressure on the ball. don't think they're all terrible players though, even if they've been made to look like that at times. other issue is they haven't quite got the same talent through midfield and attack that they once did. need to be more workman-like and that's not ever something you can see wenger instilling.

 

apparently on the flight out to udinese there was an interview with tony adams in the inflight magazine in which he basically claimed that while wenger was brilliant for arsenal in lots of different respects, all the old fashioned leadership and cajoling came almost exclusively from him and the likes of bould, keown etc. magazines had been removed on the way back.

 

big problem for him that he has no stick. especially when you're relying on youth and foreigners in front of a quiet crowd.

Edited September 1, 2011 by yellow jumper

[Sion]

60% of Arsenal fans think they will finish 4th or higher

 

http://arsenal-mania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=142922

 

Interesting to see how many still believe they're much better than us

 

and that Liverpool fan on there is a bit of a t**. Own up if its someone off here.

 

Here he was behind Adam and Lucas and most likely hated it that way [me and most of the footballing world acknowledge a better footballer when we see one] and Raul Meireles is better than both Adam and Lucas

Edited September 4, 2011 by Sion

[Earl Hafler]

Exactly.

 

I think Wenger went into this season thinking that he would be able to persuade Fabregas to stay for another season, and get Nasri & Clichy to sign contract extensions.

 

Even so, they sill needed players. Senior, proven players. Parker would have been ideal.

 

He did nothing.

Edited September 4, 2011 by Earl Hafler

[Rimbeux]

60% of Arsenal fans think they will finish 4th or higher

 

http://arsenal-mania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=142922

 

Interesting to see how many still believe they're much better than us

 

and that Liverpool fan on there is a bit of a t**. Own up if its someone off here.

 

Had a bored look at that, seems to be some realists, some fantacists, some optimists. I also see a lot of them have been seduced into how players do things being more important than what they actually do.

Edited September 4, 2011 by Rimbeux

[schmuckdonald]

Can't remember who but a journo the other day was saying that off-record Wenger was always disparaging about Arteta when he's been linked with Arsenal in the past. Few people have been disparaging about Andre Santos as well. Odd one.

[Michael]

Now that Wishere is out for three months they have lost their one hope of replacing Fabregas. I can't see where they will get their intricate passing game from. Maybe Mertesacker will "HOOF" it to Van Persie, heaven forbid.

Edited September 5, 2011 by Michael

[Barnes' left foot]

Even so, they sill needed players. Senior, proven players. Parker would have been ideal.

 

He did nothing.

 

He thought he could get through this season with what he had in the squad even if those guys left.

 

The game against the Mancs changed his thinking.

[Florist Cinema Pond Goal]

60% of Arsenal fans think they will finish 4th or higher

 

http://arsenal-mania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=142922

 

Interesting to see how many still believe they're much better than us

 

and that Liverpool fan on there is a bit of a t**. Own up if its someone off here.

 

No-one there seems to acknowledge that once Kenny came in we outperformed them in the league last season (33 points from 18 games v 28 points from 17 games). Since then, they've got weaker and we've got stronger. I think they're in for a nasty shock, can easily see them finishing 6th.

Edited September 5, 2011 by Florist Cinema Pond Goal

[schmuckdonald]

Vermaelen out for two months.

[drdooom]

Meaning 6 months in non-Arsenal time.