Arsene Wenger spoke in the wake of tonight’s disappointing 1-1 draw with Southampton and confirmed all areas of the squad are open for augmentation now that the transfer window is open again.
Obviously, after a game in which Arsenal failed to click as an attacking force, striking options must be top of the list but the manager insisted he’s looking to improve his team from front to back.
“I will be active, yes,” he said. “We are looking everywhere. We are open-minded. We want to strengthen the squad everywhere.”
Wenger also ruled out a move for former Gunner Thierry Henry, hopefully an indication that more long-term targets have been identified, with names like Demba Ba and David Villa mentioned as possible recruits.
And on the game tonight, the boss said, “Considering our performance I don’t think we deserved more today. It is two points dropped if you look at the target we set ourselves over Christmas.
“It is frustrating and disappointing because we did not create a lot and if you considered we scored five at Reading and seven against Newcastle. When you sum up the goal chances there is not a lot.
“We lacked purpose, penetration and speed. All qualities we have usually but lacked tonight.”
Which is exactly why he should be busy in the transfer market.
Yes, please.
Hello all:
My favourite analysis of the game is beautifully expressed by the BBC Radio 5 live presenter Mark Pougatch on Twitter: “Southampton deserved that point for their huge endeavours. Again the Arsenal play with a self entitlement not commensurate with their ability. “Manchester United work so hard for the right to play. It’s not rocket science. It’s called life in whatever capacity you live it.”
I could not put it any better.
Arsene you know what’s needed
“Arsene you know what’s needed”. No, he doesn’t. That is the problem with Arsene, he lives in his own little world he created since 2006 and that is …. Fourth is a trophy. All crap players should be paid like top players. No one/player earns more than him. Diaby is a new/like a new signing. His players always tired. Selling your beast players EVERY year doesn’t make you a feeder club. Making the board rich to have TOO MUCH control. He never finds the quality needed or better than what we have. People around the world are hungry and Arsenal… Read more »
I think that you are right. Notwithstanding the club’s “nett expenditure” on transfers, we have one of the best and most expensive squads in the league. If our players were as motivated as those of (say) Bradford, Norwich, Southampton, Swansea and Villa, which were all assembled and maintained with less money, we shouldn’t have lost or drawn games against them. There’s an attitude problem that I hope Wenger fixes, whatever players he signs.
I agree. Talk of ‘strengthening the team’ leaves me depressed rather than hopeful. It’s not lack of talent that’s our problem. We’ve got more talent, or anyway a more expensively assembled squad, than Swansea, West Brom, Everton, Schalke and practically every team that’s outplayed us. What we lack is belief; that, and the tactics and coaching that generate belief. Buying in January is never ideal and no sensible club wants to do it, as Wenger used to acknowledge, unless forced to by long-term injuries to a couple of key players. Prices are high, the best players aren’t available and they’re… Read more »
Watch this see the mystery you find after 32 seconds http://redlondon.net/2013/01/01/video-wenger-gives-his-excuses-gervinho-over-rosicky/
By the way Sagna lost us the game before we started it today. Gervinho….well IDK
Personally, my issue was not with Gervinho coming on for Podolski, but Ramsey for Cazorla. Now, I love Ramsey, I really really want him to do well, but surely Rosicky at the front of that midfield would have been a lot more likely to make things happen than present-day Ramsey? Also, considering how Ramsey is usually brought on as a defensive change these days, it might even have given out a signal to the boys to hang on to the point and play the game out rather than going for it. Lastly, kudos to Szczesny. I think he was excellent… Read more »
Rosicky probably isn’t ready for action just yet..we’ve seen this before: Wenger not bringing on players that seem suited for the situation at hand..and most of the time it’s because they’re not at 100% yet. Which makes me wonder why they’re on the bench at all!
‘Rosicky probably isn’t ready for action just yet..’ He owned Olympiakos for the 45 minutes he was on the pitch. That was a month ago.
He may be The King, but it made my day when Wenger ruled out bring Henry back on loan.
I mean you don’t have to be that harsh, certainly I would’ve been greatly disappointed if Wenger’s excuse for not buying a long term striker would be “We got Henry, he’s enough”, but if we do get an extra striker + Henry on a short term loan, I think it could give us that little bit of firepower needed while that extra striker adapts. That little bit of firepower may be the difference between 0 and 1, and 1 and 3 points, and when you see that the reason we are in the champs league this season was one point,… Read more »
I hope this won’t be followed by the ” We looked but couldn’t find top quality” excuse on Jan 31st. Very obvious that the first and the squad in general needs strengthening
Unfortunately, you know it will be. It’s the same tired rhetoric he’s spouted since we started selling our best players rather than paying them the going rate.
I can’t watch interviews with Arsene because I find him ridiculously charming and it’s very difficult to think negative about him when my brain tells me I should.
I have a feeling he might bring in 2 signings so as to kick this team on. A striker and a Defensive minded midfielder seem crucial to this squad’s ambition of gaining top 4 membership. On other news did you see this RVP quote from their Wigan game, “This is a special team, everyone wants to help each other. I do feel like am surronded by Champions.” I don’t know abut you but I felt oddly insulted by that o.O
Of course it is. Expect Zaha and that young African guy who reading are also looking at while Spuds are trying to bring in quality like Willian. truth hurts
Wenger: ‘We want to strengthen the squad everywhere’
“But we won’t!! Ha ha suckers”
“When Gervinho comes back from ACON he will be like a new signing.”
Wenger isn’t stupid. He knows we’ll really struggle to get 4th spot without signings. Here’s hoping some deals can be done. Realistically we should expect 1, maybe 2 incoming.
David Villa and Kaka on loan would be nice:)
I like to dream every now and then:p
I’ll better have Isco and Feillani, plus a decent CB (’cause Djourou is leaving).
As future projects, L Shaw and Zaha look good too, but honestly in case we do sign one or both of them we shouldn’t expect an immediate impact from these two.
Would be pleasantly surprised to see two, especially given that it’s January and deals are naturally more difficult to come by. (Another reason why the club ought to have been more active in August.) If we do get two, I suspect the club will be angling for one permanent deal and a loan. On the remarks themselves, I do sense a small but perhaps meaningful shift in rhetoric from Wenger. And I think it was important to rule out a move for Henry: a great servant for the club but we need more than that now. Let’s hope we see… Read more »
Talking on the drive home from soton today, all 5 of us in the car said that even 2 good players just won’t be enough, there is something wrong mentally with this team that seems catching to whatever players we sign. Most agree we need 2top quality signings now, that’s even if theo stays, if theo goes that’s 3 we need, add to that squad players like arshavin, Chamakh, Gervinho all of whom seem to be regular subs but offer nothing. That’s 5 maybe 6 and that’s without other squad players that don’t make the bench like the squid who… Read more »
Honestly, we are just one top player in his prime from securing CL qualification. For proof, do you doubt we would be struggling if we still had van Persie? We’d undoubtably have a good number of points more than we do currently had we kept him with the additions we brought in. Alas, as we now know, LP and Giroud were brought in to soften the blow of losing a player of van Persie’s class. Still if we added class somewhere else in the team I think we’d be a good bet for at least fourth. A left back central… Read more »
should read “would not be struggling”
Dreadful performance. We were lucky to get a point in the game. our only goal was a Southampton OG! Laughable. Defence was all over the place at times. Sagna had his worst game for Arsenal. Gervinho coming on sums Arsenal up, no real strength on the bench. I would happily accept a 1 million bid for him, don’t see what he offers. This game wasn’t down to Gervinho though as Podolski was shockingly bad. Too many Arsenal player’s weren’t up for the game today. Also, Gibbs instead of blasting it decides to pass it to the on-rushing defenders, he should… Read more »
And we played a game less than our rivals.Absolutely no excuse for this poor showing.
Sagna was unbelievably poor tonight.The general passing was dreadful.TW14 is
great when he gets free but against the majority of teams this wont happen and he hasn’t got the nous or strength to make things happen up front.Wigan and Southampton he has been found out.Sign on our terms or get rid
Walcott walcott walcott
1. Can’t do much for us with his back facing the goal.
2. He is not a target man and with schezzers long aerial balls we’re bound to loose possesion almost always.
3. He cannot hold up play and allow for other players to come into the fray. “get ball and run”
4. Aerial ability = 0 thereby nullyfying any threat we might cause by our fullbacks actually crossing the ball.E
What’s positive is his pace and finishing and ability to beat an offside trap otherwise I struggle to think he’ll be a capable CF.
Well said Gunripper. I also think as well as not having the right attributes for holding up play and playing others in, I get the feeling that he doesn’t really want to; that he’d rather have the glory himself. I keep noticing moments when he should drop a bit to link up play or drift wide to free up space and play others in (a la Thierry) but instead he chooses to stay in the middle where he’s more likely to get a goal. I hope I’m wrong but it really feels that way to me.
I believe Walcott works as a CF, but only if we have a Striker in front of him and for that purpose even Giroud would work. However if we can sign a guy like Demba Ba – please go ahead. We desperately need more options.
It’s very easy to blame Walcott and honestly who cares if he’s not the greatest aerial threat?! Heskey is great in the air so using your own logic should we sign him?
We have an excellent player in Theo that can damage any defense, tonight our midfield let not only our defense down but also our attack.
absolutely agree with Gunripper. my friends keep telling me Walcott is god mainly due to his recent performances, hes not. he lacks cleverness and forever inconsistent.
Let us hope the supermarket has better quality than Gervinho.
I really hope we bring in Demba ba, there is players everywhere available to buy. Just hope that we manage to get a player in as soon as possible before the chelsea game..
“Obviously, after a game in which Arsenal failed to click as an attacking force, striking options must be top of the list”
Why the fuck should we concentrate on strengthening the attack when it is the defence that keeps letting us down? We score goals. We give away goals. Which is the most worrying thing?
They’re all intimately connected though. That we’re so wasteful in attack puts undue pressure on the mistakes of our defenders. What are we supposed to do? Buy a defender that never makes a mistake? Good luck finding that. We want to avoid sequences of mistakes that lead to goals, and that really starts from the attackers.
We should build from the back and make sure that everyone in the team knows what to do in defence because thats where you start building a team. If you trust your teammates you also dare to be creative. If you always feel like cant make a mistake you wont dare do anything and that leads to mistakes. A team starts from the back not the front. I could change the question: “Buy a defender that never makes a mistake?” to “Buy a striker that always scores?” Thats not very likely either is it? We have enough creativity in the… Read more »
Which player(s) do you have in mind when you say: “If you trust your teammates you also dare to be creative. If you always feel like cant make a mistake you wont dare do anything and that leads to mistakes.” Our attacking players make the most mistakes out of anyone on the team. To be fair, taking chances is built in to their job descriptions… but still, you need them to do their part by helping the midfield control the tempo of play. I don’t see Theo or Gervinho doing that. Also, Fellaini isn’t a defensive player. He’s about as… Read more »
By the way. We could buy a lot of defenders, quite cheap, that makes less mistakes then ours.
I think you’d be surprised to find out how your supposed plethora of supposedly superior defenders would be found wanting once in the red and white. You’ve simplified the problem in your head to explain it away. You aren’t solving it… just let Mr. Wenger do his work.
Fellaini is a great holding midfielder which we tend to forget because he is more offensive this year but its mostly his height and power Im after. Which we are lacking. “Our attacking players make the most mistakes out of anyone on the team. To be fair, taking chances is built in to their job descriptions… but still, you need them to do their part by helping the midfield control the tempo of play. I don’t see Theo or Gervinho doing that.” The problem when the defenders makes mistakes is that the creative play suffers because the creative players tends… Read more »
“I think you’d be surprised to find out how your supposed plethora of supposedly superior defenders would be found wanting once in the red and white.”
Well then it must be something wrong with the club then.
By the way, with defence I mean the whole team but I do say build from the back and get more defence minded players in.
The right noises being made. Can’t wait to see who we bring in. Only at arsenal could the fans be just as excited about who we ship out…….
When space opens up for you and you’re Mikel freakin’ Arteta i’d expect you to take a punt and have a shot on goal. Why do you always choose to spread it wide?.
Everton-Arteta would have atleast tried shooting, comes to arsenal then “it’s walk ball into net”
You know. This is one thing I was hoping to see from Arteta when he joined us that sadly hasn’t materialized.
I know that he has a different role here but I remember cringing when he was in blue and with 10 yards of our 18 with any kind of space. He was a goddamn menace.
the funniest and more hironic thing is that their keeper looked petrified from the beggining and we didnt even make efforts by shoting to push him to a mistake and (hopefully) at least we might had a chance from rebounds…also we made their defence look like F@ckin Chinese Wall…
Fuck me i hope we dont get D Villa. Barca want £3mill more than we sold RVP for. For essentially a 31 year old thats had little to no play due to a career changing injury. That signing will never happen. If it does wengers lost the plot and i give up on this club. Bring in Baines, Lopes and a couple more if possible
Your numbers are a bit off: we sold RVP for around £22-24 million, while Barcelona reportedly wants £16 million for Villa (and would probably accept a little less with some haggling). I also think you vastly overstate the case for bypassing Villa. He’s a player of proven quality and while he’s certainly not the force he was a few years ago, he has fought his way back after a long-term injury and is still scoring goals.
As i said before and now i will say again arsenal has no ambition today once again proves my point agains southampton top four is not a good enough is it? we need a change arsene wenger aint it ahaaa bunch of jokers.
You’re the cunt that wanted us to lose against Newcastle…you must have been gutted.
Did I mention that you’re a cunt?
And a comment like that makes you a cunt too.
But i think Toby is a spud troll in disguise.
Hate to say it but Wenger really shouldn’t have waited to fill the Striker/CDM/and LB positions,unfortunately even Sagna’s been struggling lately. I wont even bother mentioning who Wenger should sign anymore It’s pointless. Ho many CDM have Arsenal talked to or been linked to the last 4+ years , A Lot.
lacked purpose and penetration and yet rosicky didnt come on. yes we need players but fuck me we can use what we have a little better. maybe im wrong but last time we rosicky he ran the show in cl. i cant for the life of me understand why we havent seen him since. and if hes on the bench hes fit. what sceanario do we see him play. ahhh sick of this shit
Were going around in circles with this guy!
You say Wenger has us going round and round in circles, but it’s people like you that make me want to puke.
Fuck off. Go somewhere that you are welcome. If there is anywhere.
Luke Shaw looked good today. I’d be happy with him in the squad.
My dream signing would be Marouane Fellaini to cover for Diaby when he’s injured…which should see him get about 37 league games a year.
A Spanish attacker as well, not too bothered which one as they are all better than Gervinho*.
*Gervinho is the only Arsenal player since Lee Chapman** that I have no desire ever to see wear the shirt again.
**For the younger fans, Lee Chapman was a useless cunt of a centre forward who makes Andy Carroll look like Messi.
Funny how everyone hates on Gervinho yet (at least in this game) as bad as he was he still did more in 15minutes then Podolski did the whole game.
Really?!? Wow, so much hate for Podolski. At least he defended (and didn’t fall over every time he got the ball). He also picked out passes for his supporting midfielder/defender in build-up play (and didn’t kill plays with head-down dribbles). What exactly did Gervinho accomplish in those 15 minutes?
Gervinho accomplished a shot, even if that was off target it was more then Podolski
You mean the shot where there were 2 open players BEGGING for the ball so they could tap it in?
Look, none of the players were extraordinary today, but I think it’s silly for you to put Podolski’s efforts below Gervinho’s “efforts.”
never mate. Gervinho is never better than Podolski.
When Gerv comes back from AFCON can we absolutely deny he was ever our player. Let’s wipe all records of him with arsenal. CSI style.
You guys are ignoring the real culprit. The Ox was ball watching all the time. I thought he was told not to charge. Why wasn’t he charging?
You can’t really blame the Ox. He was double man marked every time he had the ball.
Poor team performance really off day for the team what a suck way to start the year IDK what gervinho and Ramsey are doing in this team
I don’t trust wenger, it is good that we got that result in Southampton otherwise he couldn’t have been saying what he is saying now. We need establish and mature players, the team lack consistency.
Yea double double stupid looks like my dream came through in this match u dunce cunt ahhaha u need to listen think with ur brain not from ur arsehole!
Err, we didn’t lose today.
1 goal for each team means that they draw, which means no team lost…I appreciate that may be difficult for you to understand, but do try and keep up.
Arsenal drawing a game was your “dream come true”? Fuck me, you must have had a shit Christmas.
Tell you what, we’ll agree to stop thinking with our arseholes, if you agree to stop talking with yours. Deal?
Please Wenger, don’t play with my heart.
We needed strengthening in all positions fuckin years ago! Now he wants to sign payers after everyone else has improved and caught us up. A complete failure to plan ahead. Now selling clubs have us by the bollox.
As much as I love Wilshere and Cazorla they had ZERO tackles combined in the first half, that for me says it all. My solution : Move Cazorla to the wing already,play Wilshere as a #10 <that he is, and play Arteta with Coquelin even(for now). Maybe even Koscielny at this point should play in front of the back four,he was pretty much doing that in the first half anyways(since no one else could win the ball back in midfield.)
We need a central midfielder with a pair of balls. We had arteta , jack and cazorla getting run over by a relegation side today. That’s not good enough, someone needs to be benched, maybe all three of them. How badly do we need a Gilberto silva rite now? Diaby is done, he needs to be replaced ASAP. Arteta is not cutting it at the moment. Sorry lads,it’s true. Sideways and back doesn’t win games. If I’m Ivan and Arsene, it’s all in for xabi Alonso, and Mario goetze. Then a striker, fuck Walcott off to Liverpool and buy a… Read more »
WENGER IF U HAVE SELFRESPECT GO !
Arsenal is no longer footballclub, its training station, and today everyone was drunk from last night.
F#ck u wenger .
U make our club look like a joke.
It’s funny that a norwegian comes with a comment like that. Have you ever been at a game?
We don’t need gloryhunting supporters, get out of our club plz..
Writing Fuck u Wenger is lack of respect for Wenger, he is a genius, and still is.
Hey compatriot.
U make our country look like a joke!
And to the rest of you. Watching english football goes way back in Norway.
Just look it up. Almost evryone here supports an English team and every week hundreds of Norwegians travel to see their team live and maybe catch some more games.
This is a blog from a 30 year old Brit living in Norway:
http://www.lifeinnorway.net/2012/01/the-norwegian-obsession-with-english-football
Almost everyone?! The norwegians i know doesn’t even watch football.
Ah, and you clearly know all norwegians? Classic flawed logic there mate, just because you know a few norwegians that don’t watch football you conclude that watching premier league football is not a tradition in Norway? I’m not english but I live in London. Probably more than half of my friends there have no interest in football whatsoever. So by your logic that would mean english people don’t watch football……..
As it turns out, the “troll” as a mythical being originally came from Norway.
Just saying.
“We lacked desire” – unforgivable comment from the manager, he is paid extraordinarily well to ensure the team is motivated. Maybe a position we should be strengthening is the managerial one.
Yeah Wenger should have made more signings, but come on you can’t blame him for Sagna’s back pass, or for Podolski’s lack of movement, for Chamberlain not being able to beat Luke Shaw , Walcott’s free kicks(ther then the goal),etc,etc,etc.
I think we should stop crying out for strikers. Neither Walcott nor Giroud saw much of the ball today, let alone in any position to score. We have three solid players who can play there, including Podolski, and like it or not we are sticking with a one striker system.
I think the biggest need is a creative player that can play on the wings or through the middle. I dream of Mario Goetze, but Arda Turan fits the bill perfectly, as do Belhanda and Lewis Holtby. I’d also like a defensive midfielder.
Today’s game and many of the same sort makes me miss Cesc. The last 15 mins of the game, we lacked sense of urgency and there wasn’t any defence shattering through passes. No one to make the difference when things are not going our way. The team should seriously take a cue from what ManU players are doing on the pitch when things are not going their way. I don’t like ManU but I sort of admire their mentality of not wanting to lose any game at all cost
I would take a striker when can score 25 plus goal for us but, look at tonight 4 chances created king Henry in his prime couldn’t have helped us tonight. We are weak in midfield physically and tactically Wenger has it wrong hence the reason we are consistently exposed remember tonight was against a team sitting in the bottom 3 and apart from the opening 5mins we never had control of that game. I would never start Arteta I would start coquelin. We need to buy at least two midfielders in the mould of a yaya, diamy. I mean we… Read more »
Arsene wenger got no clue were getting out played by pub teams so sad!
wenger must go agree with arsenal norway very good his time is up years ago
How many really hold out much hope of him strengthening in January?
Remember the days of having the ball and literally pinning teams in for 90 mins. We are too easy to play against how did they score tonight high pressing and they forced the mistake out of us we don’t press teams we allow them to play And we only start pressing when we are chasing the game. Drop magna for a game or two looks a little tired start jenkinson. We need some die hards on the field players who are ready to die on the pitch give everything not enough of that in our squad right now.
Not enough squad depth. We are so inconsistent it is ridiculous. My dream would be to get Ba, Shaw, Holtby and Zaha- all available. Cazorla needs rotation and Rosicky probably isnt sharp with the amount of games he has had. 4th place is a big possibility but if we keep inconsistency i would be worried.
Tj ive lost faith in this manager anyway but he might as well keep with the player we got now its too late to panic buy if its top four were looking i doubt we will make it serve him right for selling our best players to rivals, but this is the kick up the back side we need seriously! Dont cry now wenger u ask for it!
That makes literally no sense at all.
Has your keyboard lost its full stop key?
Ah, the usual early transfer window comments by Wenger – “We will be active” or “we will strengthen by X amount of players”.
Which will invariably lead to “we only want super, super quality.” and then once the window closes it’ll be “we couldn’t find that super quality player,”
Call me a cynic and a pessimist but I’ll be more shocked and surprised if Wenger buys anyone. He always seem to come out with these great quotes that raise the hope and expectations of fans only to let us down in the end.
Exactly
You’re a cynic and a pessimist.
One place he didn’t mention needing strengthening, management
He will buy more rubbish.
Piss poor tonight against a team we should beat hands down!
We need to seriously buy quality, forget these kids like shaw and zaha and injury prone players like Ba! We are the arsenal and we should be making a statement!
Villa could be an option but I would preferred a top player like Cavani!
M’Villa should also be looked at, Jesus Navas, Mario Gotze, Howedes… Lots of top players out there.. Time we acted like the big club we actually are… No more untried kids or injured players
Didn’t see the game but, strenghten the squad everywhere?! Jesus christ how bad were we?!
From back to front:
Goalkeeper – Good, had no chance with the goal, was solid on everything else.
Centrebacks – Average.
Fullbacks – Shit (Sagna was dreadful, worst that I have ever seen from him).
Midfield – Anonymous.
Attack – Even more anonymous.
Subs – Giroud blended in with the other attackers.
Ramsey didn’t do much right or wrong.
Gervinho came on with 15 mins left, and had we not used up all our subs would probably have been substituted.
Actually I thought Gibbs put a decent shift in. What did I miss?
I thought Gibbs played pretty well as well(except for his crossing which still needs lots of work).
What was the matter with Bac? He must be ill – that was a most uncharacteristic performance from him. All his passing seemed off. Not like the man. But Gervinho – I think its time we offloaded him, or just consigned him away from the first team – he has no confidence whatsoever. He was afraid of the ball, he just wanted to get rid of it/avoid it every time it came to him. I am also somewhat concerned about Giroud. I want to see him score in 1 – 0 wins as a matter of course. I like 2… Read more »
Let’s face it: gervinho, ramsey, giroud, and gibbs right now just aren’t up to the level we want. There is potential in the latter two. Podolski may be up and down but he is still top class. sadly ramsey has just signed a new deal. Even muamba was on twitter during the match openly saying we have players that aren’t good enough. So for me, top signings are urgent to push these guys down the pecking order. And cleaning out the cobwebs to clear the wage bill is of equal importance this January!
Begovic/Schezzer
Sagna…….Mert……verm/Mbiwa…..Baines
Wanyama…..Wilshere…..Cazorla.
Walcott…… Giroud…..Zaha/poldi.
I want this squad for my 2013.
And we got man city , Chelsea to come ahahah funny if we get beat in both games all these arsene wanger lovers in ere will committing suicide.
I bet we win or draw both of those games, we play better against teams that don’t sit back.
The only person I can imagine wanting to commit suicide is your poor english teacher.
Truth is, players like Villa and Cavani will not be available in the January transfer market. I would also love a Fabregas-like passer, but probably will have to wait until August. We lack a solid bench. Look at Man U, they can be consistent even if Rooney is out. They have tremendous players in the bench. Players really need to be awake for the next games.
We will never sign a 31 year old striker. Its a pace position, and by 31 pace is gone.
Buying Villa would be a waste of money.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: this squad is poor.
How long has it taken the so called ‘genius’ that everyone seems to worship to figure that out?
Villa and Cavani hahah dont want to come to arsenal anyway of all places come off it there used to winning things!
Ok. *flame retardant suit on*
This is where a loan of someone like Nani would make perfect sense to me.
A talented, out of favor, pre madonna that desperately wants to show the world how much money he is worth.
By the time his personality defects finally kick in seasons over and he’s gone. In the mean time we reap the benefits.
But SAF would never go for it because he knows better.