It is the end of the season, no more football to watch or talk about until pre season games in July. There is pretty much only one subject that dominates the football websites and blogs during this time, in fact it almost dominates even pre and post matches. Player transfers.

It seems as if transfers are almost more important than the football itself to some supporters but hey that is life, each to their own etc etc.

Whilst transfers are not always the answer, you will be hard pushed to find an Arsenal supporter who doesn’t feel it is necessary for Arsene to invest this summer on reinforcements. As I spoke about the other day, it may not only be reinforcements, it could well be replacements on certain key squad members and that will undoubtedly be the deciding factor when it comes to new players coming into the club.

It is almost impossible to guess what the manager is going to do this summer because much depends on who stays and who leaves but also about what tactical tweaks/changes that the manager will implement over the summer months in an aim to improve the team for next season. Nevertheless I shall have a look at different positions and give you my take on whether Le Boss is likely to add new players to those areas.

Goalkeepers

Likely Departures: Manuel Almunia, Jens Lehmann

Possible Departures: Vito Mannone

New Players: No

I expect Almunia to leave the club as soon as he finds a suitable club. The Spaniard will have ended his Arsenal career on somewhat of a low, especially at West Brom. Vito Mannone may well search for first team football given the fact that he has two young goalkeepers ahead of him but if he is ready to stay and fight for his place then at third choice, he would be a capable back up. He had a successful loan spell at Hull City and showed plenty of his potential.

I do not see any reason for Arsene to spend money in this area unless our third choice seeks pastures new and if that happens then I would expect an experienced squad member to come in to replace the Italian.

I expect Lukasz Fabianski and Wojciech Szczesny to fight it out during pre season in an attempt to claim the number 1 shirt.

Defenders

Likely Departures: Gael Clichy

Possible Departures: Emmanuel Eboue, Sebastian Squillaci

New Players: Yes

With Gael Clichy apparently in talks with a move away from the club you would expect Arsene to be searching for a new left back. Kieran Gibbs has the quality to be that player but as was the problem with Johan Djourou, fitness is still very much the issue for the converted left winger.

The future of Sébastien Squillaci could be key to further defensive improvements. With Thomas Vermaelen free from injury, I cannot imagine Wenger having five first team center backs on our books along with youngsters such as Miquel and possibly Bartley looking to get games. If Wenger no longer has faith in Squillaci then Wenger will go back into the market for a new central defender. Finding that defender is not as straight forward as it seems.

We all know that defending set pieces has been an issue this season but that is not purely the responsibility of the central defence. Two defenders cannot pick up six or seven threats, that is the job of the whole team, the midfielders, attackers as well as the defenders.

Any new central defender will have to be technically good enough to step into midfield and find a pass, as well as being quick and mobile enough to play the high line that Arsene uses.

Combining all these attributes is very difficult. Quick and technical players are usually smaller but as a central defender you need to be physically imposing and be able to win headers against 6ft 3in strikers. Finding a player who looks like Sol Campbell but plays like Koscielny is not a task I would like to have on my desk waiting for me.

Midfielders

Likely Departures: Denilson

Possible Departures: Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Andrey Arshavin

New Players: Yes

Putting aside the possible departures of our key midfield attackers, the likely departure of Denilson along with Alex Song going away to the ACN, it seems as if there will be a void in the defensive midfield position. Arsene wants to add experience and know how to the squad and that is the one area that I could imagine Wenger finding that player.

Strikers

Likely Departures: Nicklas Bendtner

Possible Departures: Carlos Vela

New Players: Yes

With Vela not yet living up to his potential and Bendtner looking for a new club, you would hope that a new forward will be pretty high up on Arsene’s wish list.

This is the area that interests me the most I would say. Van Persie’s goals have been exceptional this season but you cannot expect him to keep up that ratio and you cannot expect him to have the burden of scoring all our goals. I cannot count the amount of times we have had crosses going into our penalty area with no players in the position to score or players passing up the opportunity to turn and shoot.

If another forward is brought into the club then it would be a big advantage if we could find someone with speed and the flexibility to play both as a central striker or out wide. Bendtner was not versatile enough to be consistent from a wide area and I would imagine that Wenger will replace him with someone who is.

Why more youngsters?

So far it looks as if we have already signed former Charlton defender Carl Jenkinson who can play at either full back position and even in central defence. We have also secured the services of two Barcelona youngsters. This to some means that Wenger has no plans to sign first team players but the two are not mutually exclusive.

Arsenal will always bring in young players into the squad, either they go on to be Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshere or Wojciech Szczesny  or they get moved on more than likely for a profit.

The first team squad will be added to, you can be sure of that. Names such as Benzema, Falco, Alvarez, Parker, Samba and Cahill have been bandied about but I would imagine that only the scouts and Wenger know which players he wants. A selection of players are scouted for a long time and if all the boxes are ticked then we make our move. I imagine that when in the past, Arsene has said that he couldn’t find the players he wanted, he actually means the selected players he and his scouts have been watching closely were not available for transfer at that time.

The transfer window hasn’t even creaked open yet and the stories are already flooding through on a daily basis. It is how the media earn their corn so all we can do is sit tight, try not to take it too seriously until we see some smoke and fire.

Hold onto your hats, it’s gonna be one long summer folks.