Arsene Wenger admits that Theo Walcott’s season-ending ACL injury increases the pressure on him to sign further attacking back-up during the transfer window but again stressed that it won’t be an easy task.
Underlining that his midfield – and in particular rising-star Serge Gnabry – can cover for Walcott on the flanks, the boss intimated that any new face would be recruited as back-up for Olivier Giroud and the currently sidelined Nicklas Bendtner.
Speaking to Arsenal Player about his plans for the January window (for the umpteenth time) Wenger touched on how the club’s latest injury blow could affect his plans.
“[Walcott’s injury] has accelerated speculation first and of course my desire as well – but let’s not forget about Serge Gnabry who can play in the first team.
“We have Oxlade-Chamberlain back and we have many other players who can play on the flanks so to find better solutions than what we have internally will not be easy.
“Up front we lose Theo as a potential central forward and that’s maybe where we have to look outside. But we hopefully have Bendtner back in three weeks. We are there for the opportunities but it’s very difficult at the moment.”
As things stand there are no ‘high-profile’ striker targets seriously being linked with the club (we’re ignoring the Diego Costa stuff because that’s a pipe dream) so it seems much more likely that our scouts are on the lookout for a short-term option.
In other news, Yaya Sanogo and Ju-Young Park are getting really good at table tennis. The pair, who’ve struck up an unlikely partnership because nobody else talks to them, have been dubbed the ‘Colney Globepongers’ by Vic Akers and are understood to be weighing up an offer from Siegfried & Roy who are eager to incorporate their special-brand of showboating bat action into their Las Vegas show.
Would hate to think “of what might have been” if we didn’t strengthen and slipped up..
lets keep the negatives at bay please!
Not sure of the thumbs down here. It is the reality after all and no amount of ‘ thinking positive vibes’ is going to change that.
Seems like no one’s coming then. We have replacements for Walcott, but need a more prolific striker to replace his goals. Someone who we are not likely to find in this window. The short term replacements will barely be better than Bendtner, let alone competing with Giroud.
Oxlade-Chamberlain certainly does have the potential eye for the goal and the pace to match it. If he gets a good run of games instead of Walcott we could very well tap into his potential…
As of yet, we’ve only got second season blues to remember about him and people seem to be a little subdued about his return. He’s a massive talent and he can prove it now!
The plan is to play “good” park & “bad” sanogo in training. Should be enough to get arsene to crack. We’re gonna put the thumbscrews to em I tells ya.
In footballing terms bendthner is an around better player and striker to giruod,damn giruod who can’t create for himself and look so heskey in front of goal irrespective of our mid field prowess
Yes @biafran i completely agree with you i
If only Bendtner would get off his arse and be more hardworking, put alittle more heart into his play. He would be first choice right now. He’s technically better than giroud az it stands
But in three weeks we will hopefully have Bendtner back……and if we don’t the window will be closed and we won’t be able to do anything. I’m not saying we have to panic buy but it always seems like Wenger is betting too much on things just working out for the better.
He also doesn’t want to come off as desperate as that might inflate the value of potential targets. As it is, Porto want something like 40m for Jackson Martinez.
They Don’t that. you have to pay that
Its a release clause of £33m which is quite ridiculous if im honest. Where exactly did this release clauses come from. they suck!!!! and not neccesarily reflect the quality of the player.
Bendtner back in three weeks? It was ten days in yesterday’s article. Just an observation, not a criticism of the news on this site. Fact is, injury news as issued by Arsenal is always kind of random, like Cazorla’s early-season injury being initially listed as three days, then a week, then a month . . . and Walcott being said to be out for six months when experience tells us that a cruciate ligament is normally 8-10 months and can be as long as a year. Not that I care with Bendtner. And no, I can’t see us buying a… Read more »
I lol’ed at the last paragraph. I still want to believe in Sanogo.
I want to believe? The has barely played yet to even form any opinion ha
I don’t know how good or bad Sanogo will be, but i do feel for him a little. He was going to get a ton of stick in his games, just for not being Higuain, or Benzema. He was, for lack of a better term, the lightning rod of criticism that would have come. He was saved by Ozil, and the good form of The Flame, which has left some fans having amnesia about the fact that we have him in the squad.. Hopefully he can kick on, or at least get a loan to a premier league club, who… Read more »
I have to say the whole Park thing is still just crazy to me. It’s amazing that here is a guy who at least had some competency in football, more than I, and yet the manager won’t even consider to use him. He must be truly dreadful to not even be put in as a last measure. I mean we have such good passers that I think we could put a brick wall up front and just allow Ozil to pass it into the goal of that…but this guy can’t get it done. I think Arsene will more likely start… Read more »
I’ve seen him play for SK, and he was great. Also finished with an absolute beauty against Bolton in the Carling cup the year he came to Arsenal. He also came on against Chelsea in that 0-2 defeat in the Capital One Cup and looked better than most of our players on that day. Shame he hasn’t gotten the chance.
And it really bugs me that he might one day look back and say his biggest mistake was joining Arsenal, I wish no player ever says that, but we might just have a first.
Most players biggest mistake was leaving Arsenal.
I think you are right on some points there. I just don’t understand what transpired that it played out this way. I really do feel for the guy, but then again he makes more money per year than I do (young doctor) so I shouldn’t feel too bad 😉
Blogs, do an article on Park. Without doubt, the strangest signing ever.
I think Park’s mind isn’t really on football at the moment. It probably showed during the training sessions. I think he is scared of national service.
5 quid says diaby is mentoring park & sanogo, no wonder they’re getting so good at ping pong…
Boss please quit talking and start acting now. It’s almost 2 weeks since the winter transfer market opened but all we read/hear from our beloved club is nothing but speculations.
Time waits for no one and am sure am speaking the minds of majority of the gunners fans worldwide.
No you’re not.
No you’re not..
You’re really not.
Where has this ridiculous sense of entitlement come from? We just bought Mesut Özil for christ’s sake. Pipe down.
Please go on and tell me what else is on my mind
Definitely not mine. And don’t you dare try getting in my mind. It’s disgusting in there…
I heard a rumour about Vucinic from Juventus. I think he can be a very good short term solution for us. At a good age with lots of experience. Although I have some doubts about whether he can adapt so quickly to another league.
Vucinic is quality, he would blatantly adapt quickly. He’s been sidelined at Juve for half a season so he’s probably raring to go!
I was about to suggest Vucinic, you beat me to it. He’s a good age for a short deal or loan (30), is still pretty quick, can play as a CF or wide and is a good finisher. He’s played at the top level for a long time. Would be a handy signing, whilst not big enough to unsettle Giroud.
It’s kind of incredible to think that there is an increasing possibility that TGSTEL will be something of our saviour this season.
Bendtner is a better option than most think. He’s Like A Loan Signing, but better. Like a loan signing, he is a stop-gap until the summer when he’ll (likely) leave and we can buy a permanent solution, and he is there to provide back-up to our main striker. Unlike a normal loan signing, however, he knows the club extremely well, including teammates and tactics. And unlike a 21-year-old Morata–who some believe will come on loan–he is experienced domestically and internationally. I don’t think Bendtner will be our savior necessarily (though I’d love for him to finally fulfill that potential), but… Read more »
I am one of the few that never thought we actually needed another striker. Especially before theo got injured. What I don’t get is why there are no crys for a centre half, which to me seems a lot more urgent. If giroud gets injured yes it would be very hard to replace his hold up play and goals but there many people who are capable of getting the goals and many systems we can try out. But if Mertsacker gets and injury or suspension I fear he would much harder to replace with the players we have. A back… Read more »
Sagna can cover, verm can cover also.. How many clean sheets can we keep without scoring? striker is equally important to CB, but at this current time we are really short up front.
Well, talking about getting goals, I think we have yet to see the best form from santi and podolski who are, quite capable of popping a good few in. I agree both sagna and verm can cover but weve seen a few times where kos and verm didnt work as a pairing.. I would welcome a striker in january but I think bendtner is that “short term ” solution we are all asking for and we would be in a right mess if Per gets injured.
When the duo take their show to Vegas maybe they get to perform at the MGM. They might get a pay-per-view chance as well for the larger viewing audience. The possibility are there.
I still think Berbatov might be a good option if he only costs 2m. I know he’s ex Sp*rs and lazy but he’s a good finisher and we have people who can put it on a plate for him.
He’s a brutal finisher. What are you talking about? He has 5 goals in 16 starts this season. Bendtner has 2 goals and an assist in 12, and has only started three games, the other 9 being when he has come on in the last 10 or 20 minutes to give Giroud a few minutes rest at the end, or playing 4-4-2 when we’re drawing to try to get an extra goal. We’d honestly be better off with Bendtner. At least NB52 won’t cost us any more money, and he’s starting to try again now.
Yeah, but how many goals would Bendtner have scored playing for Fulham? Apples and Oranges.
Berbatov would be a quality impact/backup striker.
Surely Lacina Traore should be considered. Great pace, strength, and technique. (Personally prefer him to Giroud).
Just signed for Monaco who appear to be willing to let him go on loan as linked with the hammers…
Spoke to Philippe Auclair about possible transfers for tomorrow’s Arsecast. His verdict on Lacina Traore – “Just not good enough”
oh its done already. i was about to suggest some names to throw about. ndiaye. ac milan.
defoe, remy, jackson martinez. oh well its still january and who knows you might have done just that in the arsecast.
He literally signed for Monaco a couple of days ago
In Arsene I trust. To those who say we must strengthen the team, what are the options available? I’d rather trust the lads we have now than to panic buy guys like Park & Santos. If there was ever a time for cool heads, now is the time. COYG.
We don’t have Santos. Shows what you know.
He didn’t say now right?
Please help a brother out, why did Wenger sign Park?
Because we got an 8-2 arse-kicking at Old Toilet and he panicked.
Let’s look on the bright side… we got one Big Fucking German and one Spanish Metronome in that transfer window.
And not forgetting, Benayoun who was good squad player and scored an important goal in his last match. We needed cover in LB so it was better to have Santos there than wasting Vermaelen or playing a youth team player in there. Overall those were decent transfers (bar Park) given that it was done in the last min. So I disagree that wenger fucked up his panic buys. However what he really fucked up is not buying anyone earlier in the first place and deciding to panic buy after a disastrous performance.
You know every time the anti-Arsenal articles leak designed to make us tear our hair out over old “Govan poker player” Wenger the miser, then a few days later one comes out from a presser where he speaks his honest, charming thoughts, much like this one. We love over analysing football endlessly — it’s like the worst drug addict — but no-one really has a fucking CLUE wtf is going on. I don’t know what to do — I want to bury my head in the sand until it’s all over but here I am scrounging for scraps of news… Read more »
Park is the solution. In Korea he’s known as ‘The Bus’ because he’s cheap and faster than a train. But because Wenger has always hated teams that set out their stall to defend resolutely against us, he refuses to play Park The Bus. Ridiculous really.
And not contrived at all.
I think you have a point there. ..yeah, just one point buddy. Haha!
What about Jackson Martinez? How likely is that?
I wouldn’t pay his 35m release clause even if we have the oil money like chelsea and city .
I agree with you about the 35 mill, but Martinez looks pretty decent. He has been scoring at almost a goal a game – not bad, even for the Portuguese league.
I thought Frimpong would be the man for pingpong
I think there is room to maneuver. Consider if we purchased the type of say, Martinez in Portugal. A trophy winning campaign, and Mr Wenger’s ability to polish the shine of any player, we could sell on to fund the “big name” of myth we are hunting for. Also, where stands Campbell? On loan in Greece, a fair enough goal record. Surely a recall in an injury crisis if necessary? Perhaps that would also factor into Mr Wenger’s assessment? Does he have a significant recall penalty in the agreement?
33m is silly money.
Jovetic was bought for 24m. We didn’t even move for Higuain at this price.
PLUS Martinez is cup tied.
I hadn’t seen a price tag on Martinez yet. If 33m is the valuation, I can see why the 40m threshold was quoted earlier for the “January premium”. Now, I’ll point out we have the funds, but I will grant you that Mr Wenger would be hestitant at that price. As far as being cup-tied, I mentioned him solely to provide depth to chase the league. It’s the one competition the Arsenal have the actual lead in- a Martinez spot start against lower-table teams would rest Giroud and/or Bendtner for the cup and CL matches. I can imagine many of… Read more »
I know this is never gonna happen but what about Ronaldinho? After the season he’s just had for Mineiro (17 goals / 11 assists) and coming up to 34 in march, a 2-year deal would be good. All he has to do is goal hang and wait for the passes to rain in. He knows how to find the back of the net, and he can’t be much slower than Giroud (who I like!)
He’s joining besiktas for 11 million per season, that’s just about double our highest earner
Agree with you, Bobby. A good cover for CB position is needed. Ginter from Frieburg would be perfect – strong, fast, good height & awareness, can play as CB/RB. Better snap him before Bayern or Dortmund get him.
Cback, some rumblings about Cheikhou Kayoute, 6’4 bruising Senegalese Cback with Anderlecht.
He may be perfect @24. Suffficient ball control to play Toure style through the middle in midfield as an alternative to Arteta or Flamini. Not least he maybe a good versatile player to have to cover Cback 4th spot and as a replacement to what Diaby gave us (With the Frenchman unfortunately likely to be released in the summer on account of poor injury record)
Maybe a pre-contract and added in the summer IMO.
We were linked with Ginter for a long time during summer but I remember the Frieburg chairman basically said hands off. And apparently Kouyates agent has confirmed talks. It looks possible. May turn out to be nothing.
Again a comparison to City illustrates we are not far off in terms of depth in both quality and quantity : Giroud – Negredo (8 goals in league to 7 for the Spaniard) ????? – Aguero ( Aguero is where the diff is with 13 goals accounting for their superior GD) Bendtner – Dzeko (2 goals to 4, not bad for Nick considering limited time) Podolski – Jovetic (Considering they paid 24m for JoJo, 33m for Jackson Martinez is silly money for cup tied) Walcott – Nasri Ozil – Silva Santi – Navas Ox – Milner Gnabry – ??? Ramsey… Read more »
Pato would be a huge gamble. I agree with almost everything positive you say about him, and if Wenger could get him back to his best form then he would be a steal at something like 7 million quid. But… From what I’ve heard about him in Brazil he has become another one of those players who had it all and then blew it. Apparently, his attitude stinks and he just be bothered to make the effort any more – that’s why he left Milan, and that’s why Corinthians what him out too. Their supporters have had enough of him.… Read more »
Whoever wrote this piece needs a job as a stand up comedian. He should just make sure Sango and Ju park don’t get tickets to his shows otherwise he would be riding home in a body bag! Hahaha.
I want Park’s job.
I’ll turn up for practise with the lads.
I can polish the bench dilligently for him whilst he takes off to ply his trade at another club and earn more dosh. He can keep half of what he earns and I’ll take the other half but give much of that back to the club to re-invest.
Everyone wins!:D
We need to replace 5 goals in 6 games. We have plenty of attacking midfielders but that is what Theo brought to the team. I think we’d be lucky to find anyone suitable, but I feel it’s this season that it needs to be done. Next year everybody, not least Chelsea, will be stronger. Come on arsenal lets win this league!!!
No you’re not …….
Park dont play because he has a pay per game clause in his contract. A clause which Wenger refuses to honour.
Sigfried and roy havent done las vegas shows for quite a while. Since roy had a stroke on stage and the tiger tried to help him with its teeth.
maybe they could set up an exhibition match with forrest gump instead.
Without being alarmist and buying in to doom and gloom knee jerk media bull shite, I think we really could do with a couple of players… Feb-March looks bloody tough and it feels like we could go all the way this season! A couple of injuries and we’ll most likely struggle. Agree with the need for another center back and personally another striker to cover if the HFB goes down, or if TGSTEL reverts back to his old ways, would be ideal. Question is, who’s available? Fucked if I know, but I’d love to see Arsene pull something out of… Read more »
I read the “Walcott accelerates” bit and quite wrongly assumed some kind of miracle had been performed. Ho hum.
Ive just got this app back for the first time in a year and boy has the sense of optimism changed. I love it COYG
Wenger should have thought of adding another striker at the beginning of the season. Why leave it to the last minute? Pretty stupid managing if you ask me. Was he counting on Sanogo? And why hasnt he resigned Sagna? Are we going to keep with the same policies of letting the senior players go and have no leadership to lead the team to a championship. It seems that Wenger is good at releasing players as soon as they reach 30. Thats been the problem with Arsenal over the trophy drought.
Hmmm why don’t you go and manage Arsenal? I bet you can do better and perhaps even place our BPL standings better than it is now. we would already have won the COC if you manage the team I bet. Wenger is shit and he does not know anything about football management. And he hates Sagna too.
He did tried to get Higuain and Suarez hahaha
Giroud had an awesome preseason and we still had poldi and walcott, sanogo & bendtner as decent backups
@santori, agree with your comments, apart from pato bit.
We need the “aguero/Suarez” style inventive talent to step up a gear when playing big opposition.
Don’t think we will get that until the summer though if at all. TGSTEL and Podi are surely better than a £10m panic buy.
@FootieWriter: #AFC news – Julian #Draxler news – I understand #Wenger made it clear to the board he wants Draxler. Move to happen either in Jan or Summer.
How about Mame Biram Diouf whom is being targeted by Stoke and Cardiff? Not a world class striker perhaps, but at a price of rumored to between 2-3 million it doesnt dip very Deep into our war chest, and we should be able to move him on at a later stage for the same kind of money once we got a more permanent solution in place. And 22 goals in 43 games for Hannover a mid table club is commendable. He knows how to finish, and with the service provided in Arsenal he might improve on that record.
Let’s not forget we will be getting a wide man in come next summer. Joel Campbell, he is firing up at Olympiakos and he is a true definition for “LANS”.
If we can’t find a temp solution for Giroud’s backup that is better than Bendter, I say just shovel it and go for the big name come summer.
Would love to win the league and give Bendter the medal as a farewell gift. On condition that he slings it at RVP and LOL in the most evil villain manner possible.
The good point is that we are fighting more for the title than the top 4 at this point. The bad point, for me, is that although we should be ok with our bench (even after walcott’s injury), we are still a bit short…and that is because of City. We suffer the comparison I think. Ou rdefeat against them was in itself not dramatic, but was a product of tiredness from our side. Them, having played Bayern, could still put a well rested starting 11 of very high quality. Their bench is pure madness, shouldn’t even be possible if the… Read more »