Arsene Wenger has claimed that he will only buy a striker in January if injuries take their toll on his squad. The boss has been widely tipped to dip into the club’s coffers in the New Year with concerns growing about the reliance on Robin van Persie’s goals.
Nevertheless, despite admitting that Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh’s absence at the African Cup of Nations will stretch his resources it appears Arsene is more than happy to allow the likes of Ju Young Park, Andrey Arshavin and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to fill the attacking void.
Speaking to the media this afternoon, Wenger explained:
“At the moment, I do nothing in January. I have a big squad, but if you knock at my door and say ‘I have a fantastic player for you’, I will not turn it down.
“If we have no injuries, we should get away with it because we have Oxlade-Chamberlain, who can play there, Park, Arshavin and Van Persie. So we still have offensive players, but we could be a bit short if we have an injury.”
Asked whether there was a chance of Moroccan international Chamakh leaving on loan, Wenger hinted that if it weren’t for his international duty it might have been an option.
“It is a confidence issue [with Chamakh], but it is difficult to loan him now because of the African Nations Cup. They come back in February, usually quite tired, so it is not easy.
“They need to go out two weeks before the tournament starts then it lasts two and a half weeks, then they need two weeks’ recovery. So it is six weeks.”
While it wouldn’t be the first time that Arsene has called the media’s bluff when it comes to his transfer activity, Arseblog News urges a word of caution as silly season builds up steam. It’s all well and good being linked with spending £30 million on continental wonderkids, but stop and ask yourself the following. If our highest ever transfer is in the £16 million region, are we likely to spend double that on a single player? Furthermore, ask if we’re likely to spend that amount in a January window when prices are ridiculously inflated…see where we’re going.
A new face or two maybe. Superstars? Probably not.
Seriously, times are moving on, to compete we need to spend, please don’t be stubborn mr wenger, please.
Pls arsene I can imaging that spurs have a better squad than we do
hahahahahaha
Look, if Arsene declares “I WANT TO BUY A PLAYER” Some things will happen: 1) Transfer mill goes crazy, rumours of players going in increases, while rumours of players being offloaded increases as well. Any advantages here? No, aside from having some Arsenal players worry. 2) Clubs see this, and see that Arsenal are a rich club with a great scouting network, so they trail Arsenal’s lead. If it is covered widely in the media, then other clubs can enter a bidding war with Arsenal over a single player. Obviously, Arsene hates bidding wars with the likes of City or… Read more »
Bollocks! He won’t buy in January. He’s a stubborn senile fool.
Fatgooner – Wenger won’t buy in January? He made big moves for Reyes, Arshavin, Diaby, Walcott and Adebayor in the last few seasons all in January. This guy is right, if Arsene says he wants to buy a player, any club he submits an offer to will put the price up. It’s the first rule of negotiation that the buyer has to act like they don’t really want it that much and the seller has to come across as not needing to sell unless for a very good price. Wenger is a very clever man and for you to call… Read more »
We don’t need to spend. Class is Class. Shite is Shite.
The BEST things are GROWN and NURTURED.
Chattle is bought by rich bigots who have no life because they have no soul. They
asume money can buy them anything. It cannot.
I personally think these oligarchs and zillionaires are polutting our football and should just fuck off.
In Arsene We Trust.
COYG!!!!!!!
Wow, That’s a surprise, really. As predictable as the clock. Anyway, I’m sure Gazidis and Kroenke are pleased….
I have to keep from getting my hopes up? This is going to be a LONG winter…
“As it stands………..” ………….we’ll be empty handed in May again…………..and van Persie will have every incentive to look elsewhere…………..
Hahaha once again he shoots himself in the foot when he have every opportunity to improve the squad.
Is it the 1st of February already? Has the January transfer window come and gone? I must have blinked and missed it. We still have 1 month before he can even attempt to buy someone, so we’ll keep your baseless comment to yourself until then shall we?
LOL, few good resulst and he is back to his old trick. Something will never change. Mr Wenger, why don’t you just say Stan needed the 20 million we made in the summer to pay the interest for the loan he took to buy the club, and all we can spend is what we generate from selling players or reducing wages!!!. Now you start sounding like SAF protecting the Glazers and to hell with what the club need to compete. Don’t worry next season CL money will be recovered by the sell of RVP and we already have a LANS… Read more »
Besides the fact that they’re both American, there are absolutely no similarities between the Glazers and Kroenke.
on the contrary there are a LOT of similarities between the Glazers (at least early take over Glazers) and Kroenke.
The only difference is the Glazers soon learnt they need to speculate to accumulate.
The simlarity being that they both owned sports franchises in America but Stan still owns his and the Glazers had to sell loads of shares to stop having to declare bankruptcy. Those similarities?
Wow Mr. Cygan’s Left Foot, you seem to be very knowledgeable about the internal going-ons in the club, even as to the fact that Mr. Stan Kroenke took out a humongous loan that he couldn’t pay up by taking 20 mil from the transfer budget itself!
Please do introduce me to the board Mr. Cygan, you seem to be a prophet as well. Please tell me when the world is going to end.
On a more serious note, fuck off cunt. We don’t need your pessimistic prophecies. We can take pessimism, but ridiculously biased, bigot prophecies equate to a cunt.
Mr Anon,
The world going to end soon, when someone like you who does not understand the beautiful game come here to pass his time.
Just 2 questions Mr Anon, Can you tell me how much profit we made in the transfer market in the last 5? What positions in the league we have been finishing in the last 5 years?
Before you answer breath in, relax and cut down in the C word.
I agree.
Is this the loan that some fans keep talking about but everyone at the club says no he didn’t as he’s a billionaire and his wife’s family own walmart (you know the massive business in the states)? So he’s a billionaire, his wife is a heiress to a billion dollar business and he needs a loan? I doubt it very much
I say we should be playing Walcott as a spare striker when needed to give van persie a rest and give ox his chance. The Southampton boys could be dangerous together. Plus theo would certainly be more effective than park… Still no idea how we replaced Eduardo and bendtner with park and chamakh… Isn’t the purpose of recruiting to improve the team? Either that or surely there is a kid in the academy who isn’t afraid to have a shot.
We can line up Arshavin – Walcott – Ox up front and have the shortest front line ever.
Chamakh isn’t playing right now, and Arshavin would naturally fill Gervinho’s place in the team, with AOC as back-up. If there’s an injury to the other players he’s relying upon, then Wenger will reconsider, he said. Otherwise, sensible clubs don’t buy players for inflated prices on long-term contracts to cover a 6-week absence, whether they are caused by injury or the Africa Cup of Nations. 16 points from the last 18 isn’t bad, so I’m not bothered by Wenger’s statements.
Tactical comment from Wenger to keep the agent’s negotiating mouths shut. Still feel Wenger will not back off from bidding for a good player.
I don’t mind Wenger being tight-lipped over players coming and going but I also don’t want to see Arsenal get continually cornered in the transfer market. Plus, I think it’s more important to keep RVP by bringing in top talent than by paying him massive wages (which he does deserve though).
Before wanting Arsenal to be a big player in Transfer Market, we have to sum up the club’s financial position which cannot be compared anywhere near the likes of Man City or Chelsea. This is why Arsenal has to resort to a more measured approach to all the dealings whether they are about wages or transfer fees or even not buying access players.
And, this is why I love this club.
i heard wenger did have a bid near the 30 million mark for gotze rejected in the summer?
So…all we have to do is knock on his door and say “I have a fantastic player for you” and he “will not turn it down”? Easy. But maybe he meant it metaphorically, like, you know, when people say death comes knocking at your door, or something. Or was that Jesus knocking at the door of your heart? I can’t remember. Something is always knocking at the door. Do you answer it? What if it is death? Or Jesus? I just can’t wrap my head around it. It can’t be that easy. He must have meant, “If you knock at… Read more »
The vicious cycle started again with the failure at Carling Cup, this will be followed by another failure @FA, Premier league and then Champion league
This has been happening every year
Expect another trophyless year if he still don’t wake up
So what!!?!!
Our squad is improving month by month, game by game.
Trouble is everything has to be ‘INSTANT’ these days.
It takes time to create a ‘Masterpiece’. Unfortunately, in this PC/WWW age nobody appears to realise it.
We are ALL human, not computer generated gaming freaks.
Wake up!
Don’t be suprised if he is at PSG next year. Doesn’t look, both Chamak and Park can’t score and V. Presie may be injured soon. a smart team just need to mark out V. Persie and Arsenal are over
Imagine a team playing without striker, how far can we go?
He seems to be carried away by the recent results again mediocre teams
Expect the expected…
Ooooo, I like that slogan.
Are you a marketing guru? You have your finger on the pulse, mate. Finger on the pulse.
Let’s pitch this to British Airways or something. Picture the ad: Montage of smiling flight attendants readying the pillows and bibs in first class, with voice-over: “You’ve come to expect nothing but the best from British Airways… [lengthy pause]… British Airways… Expect the expected.”
Did you know you can feel a pulse in your anus? You did? Oh, okay then.
This is why you are a successful football manager and Wenger is not.
You got the last bit right.
I get the feeling that Wenger has won more trophies than you James, unless you are infact Alex Ferguson, which in that case, i’d tell you to start looking for better midfielder and strikers rather than read arseblog and write nonsense comments
On a tactical note:
Do you think Chelsea or Dortmund never marked van Persie? You don’t? Well you’re probably retarded and shouldn’t go near a computer. Good day son, and you should go play in the playground or something.
You mean like Wigan where we had 4 different scorers? Yep, if you mark RvP the team is over….. idiot
What if Wenger told the media he was looking to buy another striker? Whats the worst that could happen? Chamakh would put his head down and not play with confidence? Thats the case already! What’s the best that could happen? Chamakh and Park might play harder to try to show Le Boss that he doesn’t have to go out and spend. Then in February, if he doesn’t buy anyone, he could reaffirm their good efforts by telling the media he didn’t buy a striker because his current players’ form improved. Wenger nurtures his older players too much. Park and Chamakh… Read more »
you’ve almost hit the nail on the head – here’s a question though… Why should we be trying to convince players at arsenal to up their game?
They should damned well be playing their arses off every f*cking game or every training session. I try and be reasonable but this pandering to to players and worrying about their precious sentiments is ridiculous.
What did Vermaelen say? If you’re a pro there is no excuse for “needing time” to adjust to the first team.
Spot on
Sorry but I wish folk would stop banging on about Park as he’s hardly had a chance to play. Chamakh and Arshavin HAVE. Give him a chance for god’s sake.
As shown since Wenger took over; if he announces a player he’s looking at then all the high spending teams think “well he must be good if Wenger likes the look of him, so let’s bid twice as much”. The transfer window isn’t even open and already people have guessed wenger won’t buy despite the fact he’s bought a player in quite a few transfer windows. He also knows that a great player in january will be cup-tied for the champions league and so can only be used in the league but then he had his fingers burnt with Arshavin… Read more »
Man, I love you Wenger but you are fucking off your trolley.
It struck me that AW did not quite say no but danced on both sides of the issue of a January pickup. Is he possibly thinking about entering politics when he retires from football?
I don’t know why journalist waste time to ask Arsene about buying a player…
So that all the ridiculous doom merchants can crawl out the woodwork!
As of this moment, the fact is we are relying on RVP to score nearly all the goals. So if Wenger isn’t considering buying as things stand, it follows he either thinks he can A) rely on RVP to continue to score nearly all the goals for an entire season, or that B) other players will suddenly start scoring regularly. Given A is unrealistic and there is no precedence for B thus far, surely the pragmatic thing to do, given that top 4 is the club aim for the season, is to invest in a player to increase our chances… Read more »
That my friend is the logical thing to do. Arsene has this (terrible?) habit of trying to always rely on the best possible scenario working itself out and things falling perfectly in place over the course of the season. Maybe it’s the idealist in him or maybe he’s stubborn but he relied on the team playing great football and growing in confidence and not losing a single game in an entire season and it worked out with the invincibles. Of course since then it’s gone stale – The worst case scenario is if/when results start going downhill and/or RVP gets… Read more »
It’s a catch 22 situation. You have strikers (other than RVP) who get no practice because they have no games to play because RVP is the top striker. What do you do?
We have the strikers but we dont have the time to play them.
Any striker we get won’t be as good as RvP as they will have to sit on the bench, which is exactly what Chamakh and Park do….. So no difference whatsoever really
If people get upset when he says he’s going to spend money and then doesn’t then wouldn’t you rather have him say he’s not going to buy. You can’t expect to hear the truth and also be able to control what you want to hear. If he said we definitely need backup and we can’t just depend on RVP, every slimy agent and equally shifty chairman in every country would do whatever they could to inflate already crazy transfer prices and with Arsene’s usual reluctance to spend it would negate chances of a transfer happening. Now by saying he’s not… Read more »
Same old shit from our loser manager. A few wins against a bunch of crap teams and he thinks we’re ready to take on the world. He’s old, and stale and past it and has no real winning mentality at all. That’s why the squad doesn’t have it – when they fuck up they blame fatigue – in November.
I swear some fans actually prefer it when we are losing. Next you’ll be hoping RvP gets injured just to prove your point.
Yeh, like FATGONER
If Chelsea are one of the crap teams then surely your logic is out of place. They spent loads of money, bought players, sacked a manager who has won a trophy more recently than we have and brought in a new ‘winning mentality’ and still find themselves only marginally better than us in the league, are out of the CC and may not qualify in the CL. Why have they failed? They have blamed fatigue, referee decisions and such. In November? Wow who would have thought! It is a disaster when you lose to the likes of WBA/Bolton/Stoke/Sunderland etc.. but… Read more »
hahahahaha he just called Dortmund crap.
That pretty much means he thinks the Bundesliga is a very mediocre league. Cool logic troll.
At AR @ 03:24: well said, couldn’t have put it better myself.
…wrote James as a yawn momentarily interrupted his quiet sobs. He closed his diary and then locked its securing clasp with the teenie weenie key that hung around his neck. He put the diary back into his bedside drawer before replacing the key around his neck, pausing a moment to stroke the space between his breasts. It was a hot night, and a rivulet of sweat was already working its way down between the canyon of his man-boobs. A sigh escaped his lips and then, just as suddenly as they had disappeared, a succession of sobs wracked his slobby frame,… Read more »
Sir, you’re the best selling author.
This is not gooner just a moaner..
Why don’t you go and support another team then? Like one who is winning this year? Then change that team when you are unhappy that they have lost a few points maybe?
You aint a gooner, you are a turd. Go support Na$ri.
The fact is wenger won’t say he’s going to buy even if he is desperate to sign someone. Anyways shouldnt we hold off on the transfer talk until atleast January 30th or there abouts? If there is business to do, it surely won’t be done in the early market.
I can’t believe people still fall for what Arsene says. After the United game, he was asked whether he was gonna buy Arteta and his answer was a straight “No.” Wenger’s never revealed his transfer plans, unlike other managers. This is just a move to improve the confidence of his players.
I guess there are two ARSENE out there one who gives the interview and the other who buys crazy when needed just saying . May be interview Wenger didnt knew about all those signings in summer made by crazy Wenger no wonder he comes out and says i am surprised i bought 5 players on the deadline day .
The only problem wenger is having is that he doesn’t have plan B when plan A fails he begin to shake and blame injuries.of course this sport injuries are bound to happen….
Of course he has plan B. And C and D and E…..
He is the PROFESSOR .
Knock Knock
Would you like a left footed dutch striker? because as things stand being left footed,being dutch and being VAN PERSIE gurantees goals!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dAEyLK3L54
like father,like son
i wish we could buy another couple of van persies so that we had spare in case one got injured or to share the scoring burden
i respect the man but his malady is obviously back…jizz,i wonder who casts a spell on you when we are approaching winning mode.i wish you break a couple of water bottles and let your mind never be in peace for gambling with our BELOVED ARSENAL.
Shoot me now, all the transfer crazies are returning to the comments section….can’t we just appreciate our football (CL qualification, great run in the league, good showing by our youth in League Cup) instead of talking about whom we need to buy???
What else are they going to do in December before the window is even open???
I hope and suspect that arsene is doing what he always does and is just playing with the press. Keeping his powder dry and it’s to no advantage of ours for him to say yea we need a striker, so any clubs out there can add a few extra million, But if he don’t buy then I think it could be the biggest mistake of his arsenal career and the the wolves that were noisy this summer will be even louder and the pack will have grown. We need cover decent cover and i just hope that arsene knows this… Read more »
Haha Wenger is up to his old tricks again. Remember after the Old Trafford defeat he said he wasn’t looking to strengthen because once the squad recovered from injury everything would be fine. And what happened? five new faces in our locker room. Anything that Wenger says must be taken with a pinch of salt
What Wenger says is Front. What Wenger DOES is none of our business. 😉
One thing is obvious,regardless of what is said beforehand. If Arsenal fail to buy a top class striker in the transfer window…….then Arsenal as a club lack ambition and are being run as a business. Park and Chamakh(who’ll be absent anyway) would just about get a game for Orient.
Harry redknapp not ruling out Anelka move.
‘Arry ponders Drogba move.
I am interested in buying – ‘Arry
OMFG. Look how ‘Arry is gonna pay billions for world crass players.
Sack Wenger, ‘Arry for Arsenal.
I hope this is a joke
Off course, ‘Arry is a joke.
I’m not so sure….
Jon Vertonghen that will be it for jan transfer window…I hope arsenal don’t let weaker teams like liv/tot snap up talent under their noses. (eg. VdV and suarez)
[…] for a striker growing, the manager was his usual, frustratingly obtuse self when talking about it, saying: At the moment, I do nothing in January. I have a big squad, but if you knock at my door and say […]
And the fact he mentions arshavin can play there just winds me up.
Here we go again!
for me the ideal situation would be to buy Goetze or whatever his name is so that Theo can have his shot up front on the off chance Van Persie is out of the team.
I’d rather try Theo out than spend millions on a new striker when we likely have a class striker in him anyway.. lets face it, we’d spend millions on a striker just for him to warm the bench…
I’m sorry but how many minutes has Park actually played for us? GIVE THE MAN A CHANCE! He’s proved he knows how to score goals, he’s banging them in at international level, and i’ll bet with a good run in the side he’ll start banging them in for us. I’m sure that 70-80% of strikers would be the same if they were sporadically dropped into a side in a totally different league, and remember how many Eduardo scored at the very start of his Arsenal career? Jesus Christ….
Cheers. I’ve been saying this for a while….
We all know Wenger would not go out and buy a striker evern his own players will ask him ,yes Arshavin did a good job when he played in the strikers role but he himself was craving for a tall centreforward to replace him in his position and i dont like him giving into players deamnds but this time i am for once want Arsene to hear out RVP he’s been there long enough and if he need a partner bring him one. And we all fans dont criticize u Arsene we just want to help you and our beloved… Read more »
When are you people going to realise that Arsene Wenger is now just a stubborn senile old man who has completely lost the plot? If anybody thinks that Wenger is being clever and really is going to buy this January then think again. This is the same idiot who thought that we could win the league with the hopeless Almunia as our number one keeper. He’s also the guy who brought rubbish like Bendtner, Denilson and Eboue to the club, and kept playing them even after everyone and his mother could see that they were crap. We’re fucked. Rvp will… Read more »
Fatgooner, get a life.
We could never replicate the by-gone era of the ‘Invincibles’. MOVE-ON mate. Evolve like the rest of nature. Please.
When will you pessimists realise that bawling like babies will not get your own way?
Please, grow up and consider the team and the fans and NOT your selfish pipedreams of what a team could be under your (fantacised) management.
Get fucked. YOU’RE the loser: you’re one of those sad wankers who are happy with fourth place and a Champions’ League quarter-final. Arsenal Football Club is much bigger and better than that. With proper management we CAN be great again.
Go and support Spurs – they’re ALWAYS be scond rate. Just like you.
Um, excuse me. YOU are the one bemoaning (constantly bemoaning) Arsenal, not I. I am trying to put across a POSITIVE point of view. Where are YOUR positives FARTgooner?
C’mon, wake up mate. This is 2011, not 2003.
I think you are wrong Fatgooner.
Why get agressive when somebody disagrees with your opinion?
Your ARSENAL OPINION?
C’mon, grow up and accept that just because others have a difference of view than yourself doesnt make them evil. If you took the time to UNDERSTAND what these people are saying you might LEARN something.
Or maybe not.
Look man, why dont you give it up?
You seem to have an issue with the club you ‘support’.
Old names always coming to your mind. Why? What is it?
Arsenal is Arsenal, always the same. Always the Gooners.
Allways we stand by OUR team, through thick and thin. ALWAYS!
So the players that left at the end of your comment can be summed up in single words: Money, hometown, money, money, money, money, money & money…. So yeah, good examples
I also think it is you fatgooner who should go and support Spurs. You seem to have a real need for a manager to spend until bankruptcy wrecks a club, which makes ‘Arry your perfect manager.
Arsene seems to be impersonating a hawk here on a totally different subject
Fatgooner makes some good points altho the only problem with Arsene is his stubbornness and his inability to see the obvious at times but totally agree rvp will be off in the summer if we don’t buy and yes then we are fucked
The ox is ready for a run and it would be interesting to see if Walcott can put his money where his mouth is in the middle. I reckon he can. Would love to see ryo get a shot too. We do have options from within should we not buy in January.
No we fucking don’t. The jury is still out on Walcott – he’s still very young and may or may not turn out to be a top winger / striker. Either way, he is not ready to carry the burden alone of scoring the goals to get us into the top four. As for Ryo – fuck off, if he can’t even make the first team now then how can he replace Rvp?
WE NEED A QUALITY STRIKER IN JANUARY – AND ANYBODY WHO CAN’T SEE THAT IS A BLIND OR STUPID CUNT.
A bit like you. Blind AND a stupid C***…….
@Fatgooner I think everyone ones agrees that we need another forward in January. It’s just most people can have that viewpoint without spewing useless negativity. It seems like right now you hate just about everything to do with Arsenal. You can call yourself a realist or a rationalist if it helps, but most fans would rather be positive. We all miss the days of The Invincibles. Have you considered that Henry, Bergkamp and Pires (there may be others) have expressed that they still believe Arsene is the man for the job? Doesn’t that mean something? It’s almost at the point… Read more »
You mean Ryo who came straight from playing football in highschool to going on loan to the Eredivisie to gain some experience of professional football. You mean that Ryo? He’s also a winger, not a striker. Wenger and the player himself have never claimed that, so not sure where your comment came from….
Arsene is going to buy in January. He always does. He wont buy who we want him too but he’ll buy one or two unknowns from South America and Asia and a
Barcelona youngster who is 16.
Fat – I agree that we should buy, just dont think it’s a disaster if we don’t. And unless I’ve missed a post I didn’t see anything close to a suggestion of ryo replacing rvp. Just a personal view that if he can bring some of what he demonstrated on loan to the pl then he could be very useful…
Wenger keeps things close to the vest. If he did want to buy, why the hell would he tell the entire world?
He, nor Arsenal, doesn’t do business like that. We actually have a budget and aren’t backed by petroleum…
honestly FATGOONER,you might just be fat in some case
[…] is difficult to loan him now because of the African Nations Cup,” he said two weeks ago. “They come back in February, usually quite tired, so it is not […]