So the least player we can get in an attacking mid role is Eden hazard, he looks quite a player and i personally think he’s better than juan mata but if we are going to spend almost 25mil on a belgian player playing in the french league ( no offense for both

Ok, so finally we got rid of two of our four world class players…….only now can we really mount a title challenge. I’m not going to talk about how these deals should’ve been finalised ages ago so we could have gotten their replacements in time, or how wenger looks completely clueless, or that last season Van der vaart was available for 8mil and ozil for 12 mil, nor am I going to talk about what message 
the sale of two of our best players sends out to other teams and more importantly to our players ( eh, Arsene? ).

What I am going to talk about though is “what now?”. Is there time to get the players we need to try and end our trophy drought? Is it all over before the season even starts?

Realistically speaking we’re only two games into the season and anything can happen, but ofcourse it all depends on wether we go through to the champions league group stages. If we do then through the 20 mil we get for progressing plus the money from the clichy, nasri & cesc sales we should have aroung 70-80mil that we should really spend all of it if want to challenge for silverware this season. But the big question is will we spend it?? I really don’t see the board or the boss having any other choice but to do so.

So who to buy?? Our problem is not just finding good replacements but finding world class players that send out a message to the rest of the league, players that hit the ground running, players that lift the team, players that can win us games. We need at least three of those players!! A striker, an attacking
midfielder & a defender. We might even need a defensive midfielder considering that both song & pong will not be available during january due to the african cup of nations, which incidently is on for the next two successive seasons.

So the least player we can get in an attacking mid role is Eden hazard, he looks quite a player and i personally think he’s better than juan mata but if we are going to spend almost 25mil on a belgian player playing in the french league ( no offense for both the league & belgian players) I’d rather we go all out and submit a 40mil offer for Sneijder.
I know  Inter have come out lately and said they were not willing to sell, but his silence during the summer suggests otherwise & I honestly believe if a high enough bid is submitted inter would sell & the player himself had suggested he would love to play in england, & what better way then to try and be the savior of a sinking ship?

For our defender, well actually i would be happy with any of the three defenders we’ve been linked with but mostly gary cahill with maybe a player (Bendtner) plus money deal to lower the fee a little.

The striker is a little more interesting, as we only have Van persie as a real threat from a central position, but god only knows for how long before he gets injured. & with Chamakh looking more and more as if he’s never played football before added to that he would not be available during january then the need for a class finisher is a must. I would say why not try for Diego forlan? he’s a proven international and would be a great stop gap for a year or two until one of Walcott, Chamberlain or Campbell makes that position his own. Although I still think we should have tried to take tevez on a six month loan untill he returns to brazil as part of the nasri deal.

While I’m dreaming a year long loan for KaKa doesnt sound like a bad idea as well but only if we buy the three players we desperately need, so that would be the icing on a very very nice cake.

So to sum up, its not all doom and gloom provided we re-invest our sale money on proven, world class & big name talent. This will not only transform the team from the mid-table mediocrity we find ourselves in to a force to be reckoned with, but will also make opposition teams that little bit more afraid of us and more importantly will give belief to the rest of our players that we are capable of challenging for top honors.

If we don’t go through to the group stage, no world class player would want to join, and it would be a disaster of epic proportions that I cannot even begin to comprehend how the rest of the season will turn out. Fingers crossed & lets hope for the last time that Arsene at least knows something….

Mean Lean’s Response

Thank you for the article,

Everyone is scratching their heads right now as to why we haven’t brought in all our targets so far. Is it a case of the club having a plan that hasn’t gone right so far because of outside influences? Is this part of the plan? or is it something completely different? Either way, we are not very organised for the start of the campaign but there is time to put that right, as long as we manage to get a result in Italy, well a result that isn’t a defeat.

I agree that investment into the team is necessary but I think the idea of bringing in Wesley Sneijder is somewhat wishful thinking. Manchester United were very interested and could still be interested in bringing the player to England but his wage demands are huge. Much higher than our pay structure would allow.

If we are to keep hold of our stars in future them we are going to have to reach deeper into our pockets to pay our top stars in line with the bigger clubs minus Manchester City which just wouldn’t be possible. But certainly on Manchester United wages. Even if this means no longer spending £10m+ on players, that money should be added to the wage budget and continue to bring in the best youngsters into the club.

Keeping our players is more of a problem than buying big name players in my eyes. We have broken up too many teams that have yet to reach their peak and were close to success. The Flamini, Adebayor and Hleb side was the best team in the country when they were together and two of those three left for financial reasons.

Samir Nasri is another who we now see as a mercenary but at the end of the day, he didn’t do anything wrong. He worked hard during his contract at Arsenal and when it was time for renewal, another team offered him a much bigger pay packet.

We have to make sure that our next crop of very talented players do not get their heads turned because the whole of Europe will be looking closely at what has happened this summer. Jack Wilshere, Emmanuel Frimpong, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Chamberlain and so on will become top quality players and when Manchester City or whoever come calling we have to make sure we are paying them enough to be able to refuse their advances.

I agree that we need another striker on top of Joel Campbell but who is anyone’s guess. A player that can play as a false nine, who can make the final pass, who can score goals and is technically superb. They do not grow on tree’s and clubs want to keep hold of their best players.

As for Tevez, I think you are somewhat dreaming. Unless we have moved to Argentina and I haven’t been made aware of it. A quality footballer who has the hunger and desire to be a success at Arsenal but one who is being paid probably what one or two of our top players are being paid collectively. He doesn’t want to play in England and his transfer fee would be considerably more than our record transfer fee of £15m or so. Wishful thinking indeed.

I think you are jumping the gun on the midtable mediocrity as we have yet to finish outside the top four under Arsene. Yes, that would be under threat if we didn’t invest this summer but I do not see that being the case.

I guess we should all watch this space. Fingers crossed for a result this evening.