Thursday, March 28, 2024

Wenger happy to spend big again

Arsene Wenger has reiterated that he had no qualms tripling Arsenal’s transfer record when he shelled out £42.5 million for Mesut Ozil and underlined that he’s open to spending more big money so long as incoming players improve his squad.

Looking back on a nerve-jangling summer which required patience in the face of intense media speculation and a winning poker face given the competition from moneyed rivals, the boss reflected proudly on his transfer window exploits.

“It’s a big responsibility to spend that amount of money [on Ozil] but I feel comfortable with it because we had the money to do it,” he told the Arsenal Magazine. “Before we couldn’t have done it because we didn’t have the money available. It’s as simple as that.”

Having spent much of the last decade hoarding cash like a squirrel stockpiles acorns, the boss also underlined that the signing of Ozil shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a one-off or indeed the advent of an new era of willy-nilly spending.

“If they [new big-money signings] are needed, then yes,” continued Wenger. “If it’s just for marketing reasons, then no. But for football reasons, why not.

“The policy is exactly the same – I always want to bring the best players in here, world-class players, at the best possible price.

“I want to continue to educate 60 to 80 per cent of the squad ourselves. The culture of the Club, the way we want to play football and the way we want to behave, comes from within.

“The Wilsheres, the Ramseys, the Gibbs – these kind of players have to be the culture of the Club. Then on top of that we want to bring world-class players who will help us to be even stronger.”

Having had three months to make an impact on the transfer window the boss also admitted that he had to calm the fraying nerves of the Arsenal hierarchy as he headed into deadline day with only the free signings of Mathieu Flamini and Yayo Sanogo under his belt.

“At the end of the day, I’m not the only one who dictates the timings of the transfer market. I always said that, even to people inside the Club who I worked with, I told them that this is a very stressful period but we have to be patient because things can happen right at the end. I said that many times.

“The transfer of Ozil was linked with a huge desire of everyone at the Club to get it done, but at the same time it could have failed because we faced huge competition in the end from other clubs, so you have to accept that.

“The pressure for us on the transfer front was huge. People knew we had money to spend, and honestly, it wasn’t easy. I said many times I was ready to spend if it was for the right player, and if you look at our form over the past year, it would take a special talent to strengthen the team.”

It’s amazing to think it’s nearly seven weeks since Ozil signed on the dotted line at the Emirates. The weeks have flown by since then… well they did do until the interlull began and time just stopped. We’ll leave it to you to come up with a suitably scientific equation as to why international breaks are quite possibly the worst thing since erm…time began.

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dmcle

How does it feel to be Tottenham?
How does it feel to be small?
You sold Bale, we signed Mesut Ozil. Mesut Ozil…

shuggietodd

And how does it feel to be a Madridista and know that you bought the wrong Welshman?

Remember the invincibles because we aren't good anymore

And don’t you dare come back for the right one. Oh well. You could. But he’s worth twice of Gareth Bale.
Aaron Ramsey-he’s worth twice of Gareth bale

Rufusstan

Worse, if the rumours/spin about Bale that are drifting out are true; they are going to feel worse. For us, despite any spin that Özil was not a statement of intent, it had the same effect. Add to that no losses in the summer and we are sending out the signs that we do not need to sell anymore. If someone comes in with a big offer for Ramsey we can happily say he’s not for sale and people know we can back that up. The last step is to keep growing the squad, and break the trophy Hoodoo, so… Read more »

GunnAlex

So it’s a big money striker on the cards. And like Özil, perhaps we don’t even have to look at who’s available, but rather go for players that we want. It’s hard to get used to that concept. Falcao perhaps?

Goatee_of_Robert_Pires

Sorry, but with Wenger and transfers no one knows what is on the cards. NO ONE. Wenger is the master of deception and surprise.

Remember the invincibles because we aren't good anymore

It’s possible that even Wenger himself doesn’t know.
Bet ya he wasn’t thinking of signing only Ozil at the start of the summer

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

But he was high up on his wants list, so when he became available he knew he was the one to splash all that dosh on.

OK — Pretentious (and long) alert. One of the most famous Military Quotes came from the Prussian strategist Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke: “No battle plan,” he sagely noted, “survives contact with the enemy.” I’m sure Arsenal went into the transfer window with their budget, objectives and players all laid out, but so did everyone else. In that sort of fluid situation, succeeding means you adapt, unless you have the kind of overwhelming firepower of a City or PSG. We actually fulfilled most of our objectives; just not as expected. 1). Cover at keeper 2). Strength in DM both most… Read more »

those are not utd’s plans…when they dont have anything they fool their fans by declaring some unattainable target publicly…eventually it doesnt work out..but the fans atleast got to dream a little bit….right from day one everyone knew that cesc wud not move, and if he did arsenal wud pounce…maybe their fans are now reading into this pattern….
and now, iniesta is the latest red herring….

Bould's Eyeliner

On that note, Giroud has usurped Benzema as the #1 for France… Let’s sign him so he can be #2 at our club too.. haha…

At least he’ll play with Ozil again.

Jagger

I have never understood this fascination with Benzema. At Lyon he was good: a young talented player with lots of potential. But how did he end up world class at Madrid? For me he was never world class, and still isn’t. His figures just do not support that claim.

Bould's Eyeliner

I think his figures justify world class, just maybe not among the best. So far this season he’s played 18 times and scored 7 and created 4, which is pretty damn good… Giroud has played 16, and scored 7 and created 2. Benzema’s overall career puts him at about 2.3 games per goal and 6 games per assist. Definitely I wouldn’t say Benzema is any worse (or better for that fact) than Giroud just by numbers, but of course we know how useful Giroud is outside of scoring. On the other hand, Giroud is about as confident as he ever… Read more »

2013-2014 = 2003-2004

Do the fans of the French national team sing “Naa naa naa nanana naaaaa” when Giroud scores for France?

Mustafa

LOVE that name.

mike

I’d rather have Gignac tbh, hes pretty similar to our HFB in terms of play so while dosnt offer something different, does simplify things for the team having a direct replacement sub

GoonerMax

The interlull’s killing me!

Diaby's ankles

“The culture of the Club, the way we want to play football and the way we want to behave, comes from within”

Arsene knows!

Tripling Ozils fee!!!….Who is he planning on buying? Ronaldo?

Fuck me, imagine that!!!! (just trying to think of a player roughly that market value guys)

Bollocks to everyone else, come to Arsenal, were where its at!!!!

bergkamps other leg

the site is referencing Ozil when his signing represented tripling our then current record. he’s not talking tripling it again.

Did he tell you that?

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

Arseblog News Hound is the one who described it as tripling the record, and yes, in the way he phrased it he means spending three times as much on Ozil as he did on the previous most expensive player.

Wenger said he had no problems spending that amount of money (i.e 42.5 million) and that he would do it again for the right player. He never said anything about tripling anything.

This all seems fairly evident from reading the article.

Great case study in how rumors begin.

shush.

Where does it say that?

“Arsene Wenger has reiterated that he had no qualms tripling Arsenal’s transfer record”
i.e. he had no problem spending triple our previous record of around £15m

Daniel Levy

Sob! Sulk! Sob!
And who the fuck is Chadli!

2013-2014 = 2003-2004

Chad Li is a three-time stir frying champion from Hong Kong. Paulin Ho is Chad Li’s best mate. Sol-Dad-O is Spain’s answer to Jay-Z. However as he’s constantly stoned, his rap songs are too fast even for the Spanish to understand. When the Denmark national football team congregates Nicklas Bendtner orders Christian Ericksen to shine his boots. If there is even a speck of dust on them The Boss smacks him across the face and screeches “Biiaatch!” in Danish. Ca Poo Ee is from France and he smells like his name. Everybody at AS Roma (who currently boast a perfect… Read more »

shuggietodd

Ozil has been a disaster. Why couldn’t we have spent money on established Premiership quality, like Fellaini or Jonjo Shelvey?

Pete

There are three possibilities:

– That was a bad joke
– You’re a troll
– You’re an utter moron

dmcle

Or it’s just sarcasm, and you’ve completely made a fool of yourself?

Get up there my son 🙂

Clock End Mike

You probably mean irony.

Irony: expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect

Sarcasm: the use of irony to mock or convey contempt.

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

Well, I was often told that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but I always think that it is still a damn sight better than being a plonker with no sense of humour, so i always add “and diarrhoea is the runniest for of shit” to which the humourless always scowl. I’m sure there’s some irony in there somewhere. Irony: “I was worried I might drop the hammer on my foot so I put it in the toolbox. Then I dropped the toolbox on my foot.” Sarcasm: “Next time you want to hang a picture just drop the bloody… Read more »

AFCEdwards

Pretty sure he was using irony to mock contempt… so, sarcasm?

jack jack jack

Definitely irony, but honestly who gives a fuck when we’ve let Sebastian Frey slip out of our grasp for another season?

mkpkelly

Or a quality striker like Defoe????

Danny

Go and get Lewandowski now Arsene, and let’s win the league.

stephan

As much as i would LOVE to see him with us, (and feel as though he would be a perfect fit to our other “traditional” CF, He seems to predictable. I have a feeling we will once again be surprised by our next signing. And I am pretty sure no one will have thought we were in for whoever it may be…

Remember the invincibles because we aren't good anymore

Unless we sign a left back, doubt anything will come as a surpirse

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

Even that wouldn’t be a complete surprise now that you’ve mentioned it.

Woolwich Peripatetic

Rooney. Or Torres. Although, it would take someone who lays opportunities on a plate for a striker to get him scoring again!

Wassatyousay?

D

He’s already got an agreement with Bayern.

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

People have been ignoring that for four months already.

billa

Marco Reus for me

Woolwich Peripatetic

Reus is a bit obvious but no doubting he’s a great player, and supposedly already an Arsenal fan (Rosicky is his hero, one hopes for footballing reasons, not for being paid to do fuck-all for half his career.)

Charlie

Loads of us said we should have signed quality as soon as we saw it this summer. We could have had Fellaini, Higuain and Williams now. We got a bit upset about the wait – next summer I’ll just wait and let Arsene work alone…

3-1 to arsenal

The boss also said: “you realise football is not just about adding more players together. You have to give them a chance to play, you have to give a chance to players like Ramsey and Chamberlain at some point.” He should be getting some credits to have the trust, foresight and courage to take calculated risk to perservere and play young and less established players, and not getting sticks for putting them on so-called “out of position” such as wishere is going through now. If anything Jack should treasure every opportunity to develop and improve his game further. Ramsey has… Read more »

Amusa

About time.
I thought the Arseblog News Hound had been dogknapped.

nickmange

shuggietodd, what do u smoke, I can’t believe u said that ozil has been a disaster for arsenal. What planet are u from?

shuggietodd

I don’t smoke. I was just holding it for someone else…. it was a prank. I’ve never smoked.

Mach III

Hahahahahaha! That’s just perfect.

Smudger

Jesus Nick, have a word with yourself yeah?

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

See, that’s what all great comedians need. A straight man.

Without nickmange we’d never have got that second laugh out of shuggietodd.

Who is going to explain both jokes to nickmange?

AP

Let nick be. Maybe we get a 3rd round.

William

Just read a leading Spanish doctor saying RM could have made an error getting Bale. This is extraordinary.It could be true or it could be just a gimmick to embarrass RM. The truth will eventually be out. That is why signing a big name for a mammoth fee is risky if the medical test can’t reveal 100% of his condition. Younger fans may not know that in 1971 Leeds utd a top Division one team wanted to buy Asa Hartford from WBA for a big fee only to call it off when he was found to have hole in the… Read more »

Henely Gooner

we all play until we retire

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

Nah, some of us are happy to just sit on the bench.

masterofthegoonaverse

not if you drop dead with a heart attack……

AP

Would be wise to check if that doc has any Barca connections or sympathies. In Spain, u never know who’s speaking with what agenda.

ramses

Read on BR that Lewandoski wants a PL move….. Just in case you’re reading Wenger…..the thought of him and Giroud competing is mouth watering

Zorro in the box

He’s been courting Bayern since last season, why would he come to the PL?

Gooner of Navarone

He said it would be great to play in the Premier League some day when someone asked him about it. What else was he supposed to say? He’s moving to Bayern. Everyone knows that.

Trez

One question…where are the archives on this site?

Trez

A striker…..that’s all we need.

Nicklas Bendtner

Don’t forget about me!

shuggietodd

Two nice headers against Italy on Friday!

Arsehole Nick!!!! Fucked my coupon for 270 sheets from a fiver!!!

Greatest striker who evarrrrrrr liveeed

Heisenberg

The sinking feeling of seeing our top players sold season after season is painful and has been that way every since King Henry was sold to Barca.

I think that we as fans have suffered a short term pain for the long term gain.
The future is bright, the future is Arsenal.

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

Madrid bought Monkeyboy but their fans feel how we used to. Welsh wingers with it’s-not-slipped-honest discs don’t make up for your team losing a player of true quality.

modhabobi

Love the loaded nature of his ‘marketing reason’ comment…a jab at quite a few clubs. COYG

Javis

CF is the only place I think we lack right now – perhaps a RB if Sagna is going in the summer (I really hope not). I’ve seen talk of us being interested in Reus and Draxler but we are pretty well covered in attacking midfield and roaming forwards – don’t get me wrong signing Reus would be a massive boost but I would prefer to concentrate on CF to come in and help Giroud or provide proper competition. Another bid for Suarez could well be on the cards seen as he is not cup tied for Europe, I don’t… Read more »

shuggietodd

Draxler would be a great signing.

I wonder if another move for Lars Bender is on the cards in the future? I like the look of him. He’s a machine! Obviously we have a wealth of options in midfield, but at 24 he would provide a long term replacement for Flamini or Arteta.

Well, I think so. I’m wrong about a lot of things mind you…

Dick Swiveller

I have coveted Reus for a while but always thought that he was unnecesary for that very reason, we’ve needed another CF for quite a few years now, but when you think about the direct wingers/forwards to counteract the tricksy little buggers, (Theo/Poldi against Santi/Rosicky/Ozil/Ox (but he can do both, hence why he has so much potential)/ whoever the fuck else wants to play out wide) then we could do with someone of Reus’ calibre to play there (I’m pretty damn sure he could play CF better than Theo…and I’m happy to see him have a go with the ammunition… Read more »

AP

If Lewa goes to Bayern, would Mandzukic leave?

the only sam is nelson

enjoying the silence from those who wanted wenger out even more absurd were those people who asserted that AW was deliberately sabotaging the Arsenal (hi, FG!) because he’d “lost the plot” oh, wait, turns out that the £400m stadium bill had an adverse affect on spending, forcing us to sell talent and buy in cheaper/inferior replacements for a few years. still, at least we had a manager capable of handling that whilst still keeping us in the elite european competition year in year out, and we still do. I’ll happily eat my hat if we don’t win at least two… Read more »

weedwacker

What about the lying the arrogance the tactical ineptitude. I’m happy to let him have his day he totally deserves it but there appeared a lack of respect to the fans at times. Why is it only now he tells us how it is and why did we need to be fed lies every about how we had the money ad nauseam. I will admit I love the team at the moment and like to see Arsene with a smile on his face. He may have built something of rare beauty again but I will always hate being fucking lied… Read more »

the only sam is nelson

it’s one thing to be driven to distraction by the manager’s public utterances that defy the reality of what we’ve just witnessed (my own bete noire being his citing the team’s “mental strength” immediately after we’ve failed to punch our way out of a wet paper bag and lost to the Hull Ladies’ third XI), but then all managers do that. Most famously Demento, who would publicly back his team if they had just dropped their shorts and taken a shit in the centre circle. Remember when they got tanked at Soton and Demento blamed the grey shirts they were… Read more »

Clock End Mike

only sam: I’ve no idea what you’re talking about in your first paragraph, but think I agree with the rest of what you say.

I think you’re saying that AW plays his cards close to his chest, doesn’t always tell the whole inside story (mostly for very good reasons), but that he doesn’t set out to mislead the fans. Sometimes you have to read between the lines.

All I know is, I wouldn’t want to play poker if Le Prof was sitting at the table! (I think SAF once said something to the same effect, or have I remembered wrong?)

Johnny Jensen's Bender

After Spuds away last season, I honestly thought it was just me and you left Sammy!

Apologies for my recent silence.. The boys haven’t needed me to defend them recently. Much to the ire of many.

COYG

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

Don’t know what you’re complaining about…grass grows better when it’s fertilized.

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

Respect. Overused word. His job is to manage the Arsenal team, not mollycoddle fans who spend their lives needing reassurance while they are simultaneously demanding the manager’s head. He manages Arsenal. You love the team “at the moment”. Respect has to be earned. It is not a Right. Fans gain the respect of a team’s manager by getting behind their team ALL THE TIME and being a 12th man at all the games. They don’t get, or deserve, his “respect” if they spend their time complaining, calling for his head, questioning his every decision, claiming he deliberately lies to them,… Read more »

TOGooner

Us fans do love the team ‘at the moment’, very true, but this whole bit about gaining respect of the manager, I think Arsene is mature and intelligent enough to understand the we are a diverse group with lots of opinions. And fickle, its the nature of the game. And though many of the criticisms aimed at Wenger in the past have been exaggerated via fear and noise, there have been times (say, the pre-Ozil summer) when level-headed fans were justifiable in their questioning of Wenger’s management. When the fans begin booing when the going gets tough, losing the respect… Read more »

arsesicky

I was pretty adament that Wenger had lost the plot. Early in the summer I texted a friend with a smug remark about how Wenger had actually lost the plot years ago. I was wrong. As was FG and the rest of the ‘wenger out’ crowd. Massive respect has to go to Wenger for sticking to his guns in the face of an insane amount of pressure and criticism.

As many have said before, the guy with 20+ years football management experience does indeed know more about football management than a few morons on the internet (myself included).

Dick Swiveller

I think you’d have to have the patience of Job (not G.O.B.) to have had no doubt when we were heading towards a place with no cover for Arteta and an attack that lacked a certain something (we still need another forward even with you-know-who coming in), with the manager blithely talking about how we had problems but still not doing anything about it.

‘Twas a little infuriating.

neutral

I don’t know that anything has been proven on the basis of this season. I love what I am seeing and I hope to see more but we knew we had a favorable fixture list to the start of this season. I personally have not supported Arsenal when they have won anything, my experience tells me to be cautiously optimistic. To many hopeful runs ending in a team that looks totally out of place, take out Ozil and Flamini and you’ve got the same team and manager that looked dreadful at times last season, I hope the corner has been… Read more »

AP

Jeez, take out our 2 signings and we got the same team…what a genius.

Reality check

I think the FIFA operates under the philosophy that time = money. However, us normal football loving folk consider time well spent when we are doing something that is fun and one of them is watching Arsenal play.
Also, since none of us are making money out of FIFA’s ventures added to the lack of fun makes this equation become time = nothing (for us fans).

Which kind of explains why it feels like time has stopped.

pontus

Arseblog news aren’t afraid to spend big on picture resolution that’s for sure.

jack jack jack

There has been a lot of pressure on Bloggs to add more high resolution photos but when you look at how this website has performed over the last year, you think there are very few pictures on the market that can really improve this site.

But maybe he will have a good surprise for you.

tightarse

I really wanna see us in the market for lukaku

Zelalem#58

yeah of course mourinho will leave him to us since he doesn’t even give us ba…

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

Wenger: “Hey Mourinho. Sell me Lukaku.”

Mourinho: “Fuck off Wenger. Arsenal are dangerous enough already”

Arsenal Fans: :Fuck Wenger. He was too tight to offer an extra couple of million. Wenger’s lost the plot. If we’d have bought Lukaku we could have got above Chelsea in the league. WENGER OUT!”

TightArse

er mate…quite the prophecy

masterofthegoonaverse

Just got an email from Amazon offering 40% off of a tour of chavdom.

weedwacker

Better to find a CD who is taller, stronger and faster than him Someone who can render him useless.

Silverstre for the Ballon d'OR

BUY SAMBA HEZ BIG

Forfuckssake

Lets give Sagna new three year deal. Been back to his best this season and deserves to be part of a squad capable at last winning trophies.

Arsene's bottle of water

Lewandowski could be next. But he’s cup tied and Suarez isn’t. Perhaps a new bid for Suarez is on the cards.
A new striker definitely must be our next big signing.

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

Bayern Munich want him. He wants Bayern Munich. They have an agreement in place that he will join them in the summer. It is his dream move. Why would he want to come to Arsenal in that case? Lewandowski will NOT be next. Why can’t people understand. Lewandowski wants to play for Bayermn Munich. Luis Suarez wants to play for Real Madrid. They will not come to Arsenal (unless we win three trophies this season, including the Champions League, and both Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are banned from Europe due to FFP. Even then it wouldn’t be a given… Read more »

vbk

I suspect it could be the wonder kid draxler
Wow his volleys are amazing

Clock End Mike

Draxler? Isn’t he nearly as good as Poldi? Why would we want both of them?

arsesicky

poldi is like thor (thunderous left foot) and draxler is like loki (trickster with the ball)

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

We have lots of tricksters with the ball. What we want is a guy who can make space for himself to get a shot away, and a shot that is super hard and always on target. He doesn’t need to be tricky. He needs to be prolific.

LANS

i think wenger knows this team is close to winning things now
we need a world class striker
25 to 30 mill on a striker will push us over the edge
have faith

heihaci

Loic Remy would be good for us and won’t break the bank. He gives us a different option in terms of pace and finishing. BTW If we sign someone like Falcao I will wet myself lol

Merlin's Panini

Anyone see Giroud’s goal for France the other day. It was Bergkampesque. Beautiful little chip. The sort of thing that skunk fella always used to try and never got dead right.

gunner

if this is the case i want to take my wenger home!

we’re becoming a force again while sp*rs continue to lambast in mediocrity

Fatgooner

Wenger talks such complete bollocks! Here’s what REALLY happend this summer: The player Wenger really wanted was Higuain, but by trying to play Hardball when Real Madrid asked for the fair price of 27 million quid, that deal collapsed. After fucking up that deal, and fully realising the frustration and anger the fans were feeling, the Board realised that we needed to make a big signing. First they went after Suarez, then after that collapsed, they went after Ozil, a player Wenger wanted but would have never sanctioned a 42 million quid bid for. But Wenger was used to sell… Read more »

Unnecessarily stupid

Let me get this right. We don’t sign someone – it’s Wenger’s fault. We do sign someone – it’s despite him?

Seems fair.

Jammathon

I suppose topping the table and the unbeaten run has been despite him as well?

Geezer

You sir, are a weapons-grade idiot. Thank you.

DarylC

Ahhh yes FG, that must be why Ozil has stated Wenger was the No. 1 reason for him coming to the club. You must indeed be correct!

You know, sometimes its actually OK to admit you were wrong about stuff….. Bigger man and all that.

AP

He’s already Fat, he doesnt need to get any bigger 😉

AP

Now that finally confirms you as the biggest ITK in the business right now.

faym

how do i double thumbs down this guy’s comment

Jeff

Fatgooner’s a closet Wenger fan!

Black Hei

Fatgooner is just being himself. He is fat, he wants attention but he is so ugly you wouldn’t want to look at him. So he tries to make himself curiously grotesque. Don’t you want to see how ugly he can get? Thus his comments and looking at the chains of replies, it is working.

But this is not what Fatgooner wants. Ultimately, Fatgooner wants to be so ugly that Wenger himself must descend personally unto to web world to deal with Fatgooner himself.

chamakh

In wenger we trust!

gunner for ever

I have never doubted AW’s way of doing things in managing the club,securing strong financial status and supporting young players to prove themselves.AW and the team will shine again by winning trophies to the sooner.In my opinion,Bafetimbi Gomis ,a striker from Lyon,will be an ideal signing for us if AW is interested to bring him.
Arsene knows!!!come on you gunners!!!!!

eyob

Fat ass gooner u havent heard what ozil said for joinin arsenal then . Get ur facts right jst dont write 2 irritate

Goonerestgooner

If that really was the case FG, why did Özil then come out and say it was because of Wenger he signed?

Goonerestgooner

Also I’m pretty sure Higuain deal fell through because RM upped the price by 10m or so at the ‘last minute’, not because Wenger was playing “hardball”.
But whatever the reason, if it had happened, we wouldn’t have got Özil….every cloud and all that.

Bob

All we need is a quality type CB kompany type figure, playing with koscienlny and moreover back up for giroud, someone like llorente

kenwyn

The Ozil signing surprised me as I didnt think Wenger would do that. If he did it again it would be awesome. Ferguson always knew when to spend big.

bry rook

i would take little pea all day long. hernandez wants out of man u and knows where the goal is

dan

Hey Mangan & co. did you guys take that picture with a first generation flip phone?

AP

Or maybe the front camera

monkeyjackson

why ALWAYS talk bout signings? lets just Play Football now!

santori

Never in Doubt. Wenger and Gazidis mentioned we were going to sign a big name and could splash the sort of money that would land (say) Wayne Rooney. They did. They mentioned it would likely go to the wire. It did. The fact is that Wenger has been restructuring the team for over two seasons now and that Ozil’s addition sparks with the current set up because of the hard work put in to build a strong platform forged through many set backs in the first place. The likes of Walcott, Ramsey, Gibbs improvement is no coincidence. nor is the… Read more »

santori

OTOH whilst we secretly wished for it, I don’t think any of us expected Wenger would plonk down 42.3m on a single player. I think Wenger has also belatedly come to the realisation that the market is on a different playing field these days with the wealth of deep pocketed clubs entering and driving prices up (PSG, MOnaco, Napoli to some extent most recent) Where he enjoyed a monopoly of knowledge in his early reign on foreign players/value, that is not the case anymore. 1) Thanks largely to Wenger himself, many clubs are now in the know and scour every… Read more »

shuggietodd

Some good points there. I was just wondering tonight, do you think Sami Khedira is missing his mate Mesut so much that he’ll force through a move to join him?

Well, you can hope!

santori

Flamini put to rest a hunt for a DM. However Arteta isn’t getting younger and we will revisit this issue again shortly. Dunno about Khedira but we will need a striker first and foremost (and maybe a Cback) Going by rumblings at Madrid, Benzema is extremely unpopular at the moment. Madrid are having issues with expenditure (not surprisingly as they punted over on am over rated Welshman) but if they get the itch to spend again, they may target Suarez (or Falcao). Suarez seems the more likely target unless Monaco gets into hot soup with tax laws. Suarez is not… Read more »

Tomas

In general, it is expected we go for center forward to backup & challenge Giroud, but if you check the situation it will be extremely difficult. There is lack of top quality and too many top teams looking to strenghten this area.
Possible CFs- Suarez, Chicarito, Demba Ba, Benteke, Llorente, Lewandowski, El Shaarawy, Jackson Martinez
Teams looking for CF- Real M, Dortmund, Bayern, Chelsea & Spurs 🙂

santori

You are right. Options are scarce. A lot will depend on what I mentioned above with Madrid being principal agitator. Michu in January is also a possibility. Wenger will have to serve Laudrup earlier notice if so. Michu is the sort of creative and mobile forward that could give us a different approach to Giroud. His age counts slightly against him but if he isn’t priced too high (vis-a-vis other options), he is already off and running in the PL which is a massive plus in January. The other massive plus point with Michu (as oppose to say Benzema) is… Read more »

santori

Spurs.

The Great Pretenders.

By and large, Spurs spend their money well.

But we will always be dining at a more exclusive table. We are in a different league (namely Champions League)

Funny how everyone was lauding Spurs and prattling on about how few of the Arsenal players would make their team.

Then suddenly one signing and power shift…none of the Spurs team (bar Lloris) can make the Arsenal starting 11.

santori

“Happy to spend big again”

He has never spent big.

Not over 20m at least and that isn’t considered big these days.

Wiltord was one of his bigger signings in decade past and Arsharvin more recently. Neither broke the bank of England.

OTOH I suppose you can look at Ozil as a 21.175m quid signing on account Flamini cost similar. Wenger just broke the 20m barrier. However he did it twice over this summer.:)

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