Friday, March 29, 2024

Wenger: Transfer plans changed, but we’ll keep up

Arsene Wenger says the emergence of certain players, and the form of others, had made changes to his transfer plans for this summer, but also that Arsenal must be aware of what other teams will do.

Francis Coquelin’s rise to first team prominence means that an oft-reported move for Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin might be re-thought, while Hector Bellerin’s form could mean the end of Carl Jenkinson’s Arsenal career.

Speaking to Sky Sports the Arsenal manager admitted the new-found team cohesion had made ‘massive changes’ to his summer plans, but insists the Gunners won’t be left behind as others try to build title challenging teams.

“You can expect Manchester City to respond, expect Manchester United to respond, Liverpool to respond. I don’t know yet, but that is something you have to consider.

“I believe that some players who were questioned, like Ozil, have made big improvements in the second part of the season, getting slowly to be the leader you want him to be in guiding our game.

“We are not in need of absolute change. We have a strong squad. We have some strong young players behind. We have a very big squad, so we need to lose some players as well.”

The squad is better than it was 12 months ago, and significantly better than it was 12 months before that.

However, with players like Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky set to leave, doubts over loanees like Podolski, Sanogo, Miyaichi and Campbell, Abou Diaby’s continued injury issues, and even someone like Santi Cazorla in a position where a move back to Spain isn’t impossible, how the depth is maintained will be interesting to see.

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Thierry Walcott

Good problems to have… COYG all the way to 2015/16 glory.

CB

Onwards and upwards. Keep the core. Lose most of those mentioned and get two top quality additions.

Looking forward to next season if so.

Mesut

Forwards, not backwards. Upwards, not forwards. And always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.

Sideshow David

DATS WAT SHE SAID

Xxxrob

Ahh good quote from a good period in Simpsons history. Thank you sir

Dylan

I always enjoy a Simpsons reference on this website.

badaab

Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!

Az Ahmed

Abortions for sone, miniature Arsenal flags for others…

gunnermite

i hate it when santi’s name is being mentioned as part of players who could depart the emirates.

Rochester

Rosicky too…

Andy Mack

The only reason Rosicky is mentioned is his age, and he isn’t getting any younger. If he stays next season and takes a knock in the first game which results in him out for 3 months then the whingers will be moaning on about how this was obviously going to happen and AW doesn’t know what he’s doing… So should he take the risk when we’re fairly strong on exceptionally talented attacking Mids? I really wish he hadn’t been injured so much previously as he’s such a talented guy, he would have made a difference when we really needed him.… Read more »

Anonymous Physicist

Actually I think the reason Rosicky gets mentioned is because he wants to play more. We can keep talking about him as if he’s close to his pension, but the guy was clearly unhappy he didn’t get on the field much in the first half of the season, and he is still turning out match winning performances for his national team. If he leaves it will be to play more football, not because we think he’s too old.

Andy Mack

I agree. I’d like to keep him but…..
He was injured for a few weeks early in the season, then he came on as a sub and gave the ball away pretty much every time he touched it, but he did also have some awesome games as well. No doubt he’ll play if he moves but will it be for a top 4 club. If he stays but doesn’t get games will he cause problems with the squad? I don’t know. I’m probably more confused about what’s best for us concerning him than with any other player since ‘God’…..

jo

not to mention that he’s done very well in his performances for us this season.

OOzil

Dear Sir, Please let me know if there is any person who is getting younger by the day. I would like to know his secret. 🙂 Rosicky has revived more seasons and saved many with his 8 or 10 games per season than most of the players who play the entire season. Maybe we need to be a bit careful before chucking out leaders. As mentioned in the article, Ozil is becoming a leader now. What if he needs a break? Do we have people who control the tempo like him? I think Rosicky is the only player who can… Read more »

adriano

no one is chucking anybody out. arsenal will keep rosicky around as long as he wants. that is clear, no debate. he’s a great guy and great player to have around, but he wants to play more. it’s going to be a tough choice for him, and it’s not a choice between us and any other top club. essentially he’s going to leave to go back to his home club until he retires. he hasn’t been playing as often as he deserves, and that’s not going to change. but we’re on the cusp of winning big things, that’s why it’s… Read more »

Sanku

Rosicky has Arsenal in his DNA

@jnrsenior

Santo was brought in from a club that was on its arse. It’s a career step for him and if one of the big 2 in Spain came a knocking, he’d want it. Fair play to him.

Fabulous

Santi certainly is one of my favorite, added a lot of creative input to the team after a certain player pushed for a transfer to his hometown team. Not to mention the bloody sweet free kick in the FA Cup, nobody seems to mention that definitely is a turning point in the game. We didn’t look like getting anything prior to that and looked shaken from the 2 goal blitz. Anyway what I think Arsene is getting to is we’re a bit unbalanced. Too many number 10s, Santi, Ozil, Rosicky, Cazorla, Wilshere and even Ox could do a job there.… Read more »

Gabe

That free kick wasnt a turning point in the game, but a turning point for Arsenal, for wenger and for the fans. It indeed put us on the right pedestal to get the ‘trophy drought monkey’ finally off our back. For me it should go down as one of the greatest moments for the football club, and for that make santi an arsenal legend. Leave or stay, santi is forever loved, forever remembered.

adriano

I think our three best No. 10’s are Santi, Ozil and Cazorla. Keep those three!

Verminator's Mojo

If Santi leaves then Carzola would be the most natural replacement.

Jap's Eye

Certainly not looking forward to another “will he, won’t he” summer, this time with Santi the subject of the conjecture.

Karl

If Wenger were to sell Santi Cazorla when we are in this position were we have the money and soon to be ‘complete’ squad. Then it would be time for arsenal fans to re-consider the Wenger support. We should make progress in the transfer windows as well by being able to hold onto our best players.

Casimir

If he sells Cazorla, you don’t think he has someone like Draxler or Reus lined up as a potential buy?

timmytimtimothy

Just don’t get complacent is all I ask. We’ve seen in the past what happens when you put all your faith in emerging talent – one of them just won the title for Chelsea.

We are only a few pieces away from having a frightening squad. Let’s go and add those pieces.

But not before we retain the FA CUP!

COYG 🙂

David C

Curious what everyone thinks we need the most? A new keeper or are we happy with the 2 good keepers we have? CB – Gabriel looks great, Chambers might be ready to step in. Kos and Per still have some good years ahead of them. LB – Gibbs isn’t complaining too much so I imagine we are fine with him and Monreal. RB – DeBuchy, Bellerin, Jenks, and Chambers as another backup. Looks good there. Strikers – Welbeck, Giroud, Walcott, Sanchez, and the loanees – probably ok here… Midfield – probably a holding/central midfield is still the biggest need. Coq… Read more »

sanku

you forgot diaby :p

Az Ahmed

Striker definitely

Gunner Rob

I’m still not sure the players that have “emerged” are the ones to take us to the next level.

Andy Mack

They’re young, so no one can be certain but if they improve as you’d expect then they’re the boys.

Miranda

I think Toral is going to be excellent and I’m glad that the ageing of some of our midfielders makes it possible he’ll be given a chance. The other kid I love is Martinez. He’s extremely talented, hardworking and completely unarrogant – look at the way he got stuck in at lowly Rotherham, won high praise from the manager and became a fan favourite. Maybe he’ll go on loan to a good club in Spain next season – apparently he’s got several offers – but I’d like to see him as our first choice before too long. Yes, he’s young… Read more »

Pearson

Walcott is wrong, we are not the best team in Europe, we are the best team in the whole world!
Up The Arsenal!

Az Ahmed

No, we are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen

Kotuah

For the first time, I don’t give a heck if someone is added or not. Additions will be good, but we also need to maintain stability especially for the early momentum that has usually killed our title hope before they even begin.

Gareth knight

As much as I love cazorla and rate him as an important first team player…. with his age, the fact we could get a lot of money for him and he plays in a position where someone like will here and chambo could play… it might make good sense to cash I’m on him and use the money to strengthen with world class talent in other positions.

Henry! Chance!! Goal!!!

Cash in? Wtf? We are not a selling club. We have a deep squad because we have option in every position. We won’t have those options if we “cash in” on our best players

Alex

It’s not about cashing in, it’s about reinvesting in the squad. But like you I don’t want to see Santi go he’s been unbelievable this year and he has to be a great guy to have in the dressing room

Nw7

what if someone like isco came in as a replacement? As long as we get someone as good and younger id be happy.

Andy Mack

Why not ‘as well as’ rather than ‘instead of’?

Alabo

squad already too saturated in attacking mid. adding isco without letting santi go would give us five…and that would mean at least three guys not playing on a regular basis, difficult to attract /retain top players with that situation. if santi asks to move to barcelona i think wenger would let him leave, provided ~30 million squid move the other way. stil have ramsey and wilshere in the box to box roles, in that case probably wenger finds some young guy to be ozil’s understudy. in this situation, if ozil injured, ramsey moves up to playmaker and we still have… Read more »

Andy Mack

I guess you think we’ll keep Diaby and Rosicky then?

True Red

Wilshere and the Ox are both different type of players then Santi. Neither has his range of passing or ability in tight situations. I for one would hate to see him sold.

SoqedHozi

I’d like to see someone come in to replace theo, someone that will be peaking in a year or two. Besides that it’s going to be tough to improve other than strengthening the squad.

Karsten

Serge Gnabry

Auslaender

Replace him as what? Third choice on the bench? We have Wellbeck and the Ox at his position and Gnabry seemed very promising last year when he was fit. I can barely see a future for Theo at the club and if he leaves he won’t be replaced by a signing.

SoqedHozi

I think an upgrade is possible in this area. Welbeck and gnabry are needed for rotation whilst the ox can look to compete for a central midfield position.

Az Ahmed

Why is everyone talking about Walcott leaving? He is quicker than Welbeck and a much better finisher. He needs motivation from the manager to get back into killer form we know he is capable of, and let Shad do his jib

Jose P

I cannot take it whenever Tomas Rosicky is mentioned in the list of probable moving outs… it hurts when it comes from Arseblog. Arsene likes Rosicky, he must stay on for another year, complete his testimonial at the Emirates. Irrespective of what might happen, he will be my favorite player in an Arsenal shirt since ‘THE GENIUS #10’.

Cyril Washbrook

Agreed: the most likeable Arsenal player since Gallas.

Swish

I would love to see TR7 get a testimonial, but ultimately, it’s his choice. He wants to play and it’s hard to get into the team in this form, so he wants out to play. I think it would be unfair to stand in his way for the sake of a testimonial game.

dan

Don’t agree arsene. 10 points behind the leaders suggests that big improvements need to occur. 2-3 world class players if possible. The league table doesn’t lie

adam

2-3 world class players? That should be easy enough!

Dylan

Please refer to Arseblog’s previous blog which highlights why the league table is not an accurate measure of progress.

Miranda

No one’s disputing that we’ve made progress but, as Wenger points out, it would be unrealistic to assume that other clubs – Chelsea included, Chelsea especially – will stay the same or get worse. Everyone will try to strengthen this summer. Whether they do so more or less successfully than us remains to be seen. Besides, there’s the small matter of Europe where sadly, far from improving, we’ve been in slow but steady decline. Less than decade ago I remember Gazidis saying at a supporters’ do that the league was all very well but the club now needed to push… Read more »

voldermort

If we don’t strengthen the team and I don’t mean just with squad players by at least 2 very very good players then we won’t win the league.
Chelsea are way ahead of us Again. And will buy big and buy well, As will man u and city. We can’t keep playing catchup and saying we are maybe two players short every year.

Stringer Bell

Thumbed down for talking too much. I lose the will to live when I have to read more than one paragraph. The fool wants to be noticed the wise man smiles in the audience.

Theo

No tomas please.

Rod

No to him leaving, or no we should let him go?

Milo

No

el_bahja

TR7 should be given one more season for his testimonials truly Loyal servant COYG

Henry! Chance!! Goal!!!

This will be a very delicate balancing act. You don’t want to do anything that will destabilize the current balance of the squad. Bringing the wrong players in or letting the wrong players go could do exactly that.

To be honest, this current squad has been the best in England since the turn of the year. It makes one wonder what could have been with a slightly better start to the season

Eternal Titi Berg Pat Nostalgia

Slightly better start of season? You love euphemism. In the PL, you cannot have four draws in a row with smaller teams and win things. There is no room for even losing the first game. That’s the kind of mentality we should have. We have had strong second half of seasons for many years except for last year but haven’t won the league.

Henry! Chance!! Goal!!!

Actually to start the season, we lost or tied 9 games. If we had won 3 of those 9 games (Hull, LC, and Everton), that’s an additional 6 points. If we had tied against Stoke and Swansea, that’s additional 2 points. That’s 8 more points than we currently have and we are going down to the end of the season with a chance to win the league. That qualifies as ‘slightly better’

kafka

you said exactly what he said, but turned it into numbers, and now you disagree with him. another number for you: you talked about different outcomes in 5 (five) games. That is a lot of games in a 38 game season. that’s not slightly better, that is about 11% (another number) of the season.

bergkamp's hooped sock

Sell Podolski and Walcott, get Reus. The young ones either stay or go out on loan again. That’s end of transfer activity. Right? Right?

Stringer Bell

The one area now that must be strengthened is holding mid, should our coq get hurt, it’s Arteta (who I like but legs have gone) and Flamini who is clearly not good enough with all due respect. One big signing it will be, that’s our m.o and couple of potentials. Coyg

Andy Mack

IMO Flamini will go this summer. Our Club captain will stay at least 1 more season (he’s good for the squad), so we probably will look for someone that can ‘dual role’ as a DM and a some other role… Or will AW blood Chambers and/or Hayden in that role to cover Coq…..
Or maybe I’m wrong… we’ll see in the summer.

Chilli

why does “everybody” want Reus. He’s a fucking tool, albeit a good footballer. He’d disrupt the team too much with his antics. I’d like to see somebody else in, dunno who though. Wally is gonna go. So will Flamini and Poldi. Young guns are a go-go. And some classy additions. How about Lloris, Gündogan/Khedira (keep Rozza though), Hummels and some bad ass winger? then Kloppo as an assistant manager and Arsene’s u derstudy, so he can take over after the two tripples 15/16 & 16/17 and unbeaten seasons. Pep Guardiola follows a few years later, marking Arsenal as the first… Read more »

poldisleftfoot

Reus is a tool! ? WTH u talking about? he’s no balotelli. he had an option to join real barca bayern and he chose to work with klopp! I believe his direct approach mirrors TR7’s and would love to see him in an arsenal shirt!

Rozza the samourai

I love how Wenger communicates about transfers these days. He used to say : In England, people think transfers are solution to everything and that he had a good squad. Even when he was buying Gabriel, he gave good updates.

DB10**

I would be sad to see the Corporal leave. would rather have debuchy leave. lets face it he would not be around after 1 or 2 seasons.
I would love to have a world class player to call upon in the box. some one not afraid to take a shot and has that speed of thought to go with our combination play.
and a strong battler in midfield to keep the coq honest.

we lose out in the league because we have players that dont/cant physically handle matches in our favour. wenger needs to balance the flair with brawn.

Eurazian

We should keep Jenkinson on loan. As you say, Debuchy likely only has another couple of seasons in him at the level required. By that stage Jenko might be in contention to challenge Bellerin for a starting spot.

Crash Fistfight

Another point that I think is important here is that there may be a rule change in the near future on the number of home-grown players needed in the squad (as per Greg Dyke’s idea a few weeks ago). Jenkinson would count as a home-grown player (obviously) so if Walcott were to go it would allow a foreign replacement without any change in the number of home-growns. If Debuchy isn’t going to be 1st choice (and there is a possibility that is the case with Bellerin performing well) I think it might not be a bad idea to go with… Read more »

TexasGooner6

Think we should keep Jenks and let Debuchy go. Bellerin is the star but Carl has the athleticism and height to keep getting better. Would hate to see a true gooner leave the club.

Rich

The reason we’ve improved is that we’ve spent £120million without losing anyone we haven’t wanted too.
We don’t need wholesale changes, and I don’t expect Arsene to do anything other than publicly back his players, but I still think we should look to improve any and all positions possible.
Cech,Hummels,Schneiderlin and Reus would kick us on and is realistic.
I won’t hold my breath though, Arsene’s brilliant but nowhere near ruthless enough.

Springbank 1962

Hummels isn’t anywhere near the player he was. Let ManU pay £30M for him … sit back … and laugh.

Anonymous Physicist

Getting the two best players from Dortmund plus two very highly regarded PL players, one of whom is under contract with the PL champions, is what you call realistic? You know real life isn’t like FIFA, right?

What’s realistic is one or two high profile transfers totalling no more than about 40-50 million, and one or two talented players we’ve never heard of for the future. And I am perfectly happy with that, to be honest.

Rich

That’s because you have no imagination!
We had an estimated £50million for transfers in 2010/11.
Since then our operating profits have increased from around scratch… to £80mill p/a.
Our cash reserves have increased by over 100%, whilst our net debt has decreased by £90million.
Your right though….we should increase Stan’s £3million he took last time around, whilst putting blind faith in players who can and should be improved upon.

Dylan

You certainly do have a fascinating imagination.

Thierry Walcott

There’s imagination, and then there’s you…

Anonymous Physicist

Actually, in the last complete financial year (ending May 2014) we made a total profit of about 5 million pounds, after a net spend of 32 million on transfers (bought Ozil, sold a few). See the full financial report here: http://www.arsenal.com/assets/_files/documents/sep_14/gun__1411130554_ISDX_ANNOUNCEMENT_FULL_CONTENT.pdf Our income has increased since last year, but so has our wage bill, etc. So to meet financial fair play and keep running a sensible business, we can probably afford to spend about 50-60 million per year net on transfers. Last summer we spend about 60 million, and then another 11 in January, which will probably cause us to… Read more »

Deano

Hummels has been rubbish this season. They would demand at least £50million for Reus don’t see that happening but Gundogan is available worrying injury record though. I would be astonished if that twat Maureen allowed Cech to come.

Maestro

I feel so confident in the team….trust me next season’s gona be massive for us.

Policeman's Bangers 'N' Mash

Do not sell Cazorla. Him and Ramsey have to fight for a place in the middle. I don’t care how much it pisses them off. I feel we should be trying Ramsey there against lesser teams and if he plays amazingly well it will be a great battle between the two. Otherwise we lose the guy who makes our team tick and put too much on Ramsey’s shoulders as good as he is.

DB10**

so blogs thinks Arteta stays. need to offload him. too slow in his position and easily overrun. I’d rather keep rosicky even if they are different players.

Andy Mack

He’s the club captain, he’s liked and leads in the squad and he doesn’t whinge when he’s not playing…..
Don’t you think age and experience is a good quality to have in a squad (especially in a club captain)?
Hopefully he’ll stay but I can’t see him getting much playing time.

Gudang Bedil

There’ll be so many exodus this summer, but none will be from our key players. That includes you Santi! If Theo goes, I think Gnabry will be good enough to be the backup of Ox/Sanchez.

gooners

Sell theo, buy Pedro, move to next level

Crash Fistfight

Pedro is nothing special. If he played for anyone other than Barcelona nobody would pay him any attention.

roy

Rosicky deserves at least another year and a testimonial in my opinion

Someone's Something

*Blogs mentioned something about transfers, here’s my chance to write something that no-one els has written before and truly show my originality*

We should get rid of Arteta, Diaby, Mertesacker, and everyone els that I don’t really like…

*Great, that’ll show them! Now for some truly realistic players we should go for*

…and get Reus, Gündogan, Varane (or someone “like him”), Cech, and world-class striker.

Rod

Give super Tom another year. He deserves it

Siserio

For me,a ‘mean’ defensive midfielder and a beast upfront who doesn’t respect himself,not to talk of opposition defenders will be enough.Arsene needs to keep the squad as big as possible cos of possible injuries.I’ll bring back jenks and use debuchy(if needed) at CB.

Paul

How about, Podolski, Sanogo, Miyaichi, Campbell, and Diaby can all go and we keep Tomas and Santi and add a couple of quality players?

Miranda

Wenger loves Sanogo. I haven’t a clue whether he’s right because the poor player seems mostly to be injured. . Trouble is, something tells me we may not be the perfect club for anyone with such a terrible injury record and who before coming to us was considering giving up all together and becoming a postman. Not sure how he is going to develop his potential if he so rarely plays. Hope I’m wrong to be pessimistic about him. I’m pretty sure Podolski, Ryo, Joel Campbell and Flam will be leaving, all of them except Campbell for little or nothing.… Read more »

Gunnanarama

Long live AW…!

DB10**

Ruthlessness > Sentimentality

c’mon wenger be ruthless.

ArseMansBackInTown

If we’d signed a striker and a defender in the summer we might have been celebrating a league win.

Now that Gabriel is here and Coq has emerged the big summer money has to be invested in an option to the excellent Giroud. This squad plus, say, Higuain, is all the way there IMO.

weretheclockend

A world class DM and striker while having a clearout of the average and injury prone please.. less quantity more quality.

Eternal Titi Berg Pat Nostalgia

Theo will not be sold because when he gets his form back, he will be a starter. Welbeck and Chamberlain do not score enough goals. To me, Welbeck will always be just the hardworking attacking player with no end product, he is. He has neither eye or brain for goals.

David Seaman's Ponytail

I would rather Walcott leave and stick Chambo where Theo played. Bring in Reus then you have 6 excellent players vying for 2/4 positions in the middle of the park and the wings OR get Gündogan and put him in a holding role alongside Coq. Hate to see Rošicky and Santi leave.

Reggie

I’d still sign Schneiderlin, if he was available. Very good player and he and Coq would share the games and not be overplayed.

ArseMansBackInTown

But they wouldn’t share the games. Wenger doesn’t rotate. He plays what he thinks is his best XI and sticks to it until an injury or an individual fuck up forces a change. Our man management is terrible, tbh.

Andy Mack

I think you’ll find that he ‘rotates’ a bit more than the chavs did…….

WengersNoseHair

How dare Wenger play his best players and look for consistency and automatisms! Venga Out! ArseMan In!

GoonerBret

We will likely finish 10 pts off 1st. That is not a small number. Basically, 4 more wins needed next season. We have to look where those wins will come from. Scoring and going forward isn’t the problem. For me, we are 1 Paul Pogba away from winning the league. Our defenders have needed that wall in front of them at times. While we know that Barca, Real, and PSG are in for him… 65million offer and 200 a week COULDN’T HURT.

poldisleftfoot

paul pogba! hells we could never afford him.. hes the next big thing in world football without a doubt.. but i cant see arsenal paying 70-80 mill for one player.. its just too much to ask..

Muiz

Any one worried about FA cup final? Am really anxious A. Villa is playing really well these days.

pacificgooner

It other news, what day is St Totteringhams day?

beardyblue

In a practical sense, it’s already here because we’re currently on their man number of points for the season with a 30 or so goal difference for them to overcome. Technically, we need one point to put us well and truly out of reach as far as the math goes.

beardyblue

*max (not man)

Chrispy

Today when we win later

Fatgooner

But a point will do.

Arsepedant

Today is St. Totteringham’s Day. I may be jumping the gun by a couple of hours, but there ain’t no way we’re going to lose to Hull this afternoon (CDN)/evening (UK). I’m very much looking forward to my long lunch break in the Arsenal Vancouver pub, celebrating twenty consecutive years of beating down the Tiny Tots.

Con

My fairly unrealistic Football Manager-style dream:

Out:
Poldi
Miyaichi
Diaby
Campbell
Wellington
Flamini

Out loan:
Sanogo
Gnabry
Akpom
Jenkinson

Keep:
Arteta
Rosicky
Definitely Santi

In:
Cech (Opsina out if so)
Lacazette/Reus
Schneiderlin/Kongdogbia
Maybe a young English defender like Mings or the Gomez boy (not that i’ve seen him play of course…)

Oh dear it’s silly season already. Where’s my tin foil hat

Andy Mack

Have you seen wellington play?

Con

No is he good enough for our first team?

Andy Mack

I don’t know either, so I’ll leave the buying and selling of him to the coaching staff that have seen him.

Con

Fair enough I didn’t mean to imply that I have better knowledge than the Arsenal staff. I expect it’s likely that he’ll be sold however.

bazza-wicks

i think carzola will stay another season if we get 2nd or 3rd spot and hopefully winning the fa cup he will want more and he has a lot to offer this team still, Rosisky wants more play time and will never get guaranteed time at AFC so he will go, which is a shame. flamini will be back up for coq but id rather he went and we got in another type of coq’s standing, like we always say every year just 2 or 3 players, SIGH…………..

Chrispy

Not happy those assholes have won the league and comments like this from the boss doesn’t brighten the mood. As usual we’re the obligatory 2 players away from a title winning side but this time there’s absolutely no excuses not to go out there and get them. Certainly from a financial perspective.

FA Cup and a runners up spot please so any CL qualifying round is avoided so we can have a properly planned pre season.

Crash Fistfight

Don’t know why everyone assumes we’re going to get 2nd spot.

Now Man City can’t win the title, the shackles are off, so I can imagine them winning every game left.

Not saying we won’t finish 2nd, but it’s a bit presumptuous is all.

Andy Mack

$iteh players have known they couldn’t win for 3 or 4 games now.
The players may not be rocket scientists but they knew the chavs could not lose enough games for them to be champions.

gooner65

I love Flamini, but his contract is out this summer: Cazorla is my favorite – yet he’s 30, and his contract expires in 2016. he’s among the most vital pieces of our current run. Do we let him go on a free next summer? If Atletico pays, should we let them pay? I would love to keep them both, and add some aggressive defensive depth in the midfield, though I will miss Arteta, our captain. Basically, we’re zero players away from a championship; we just need depth.

Fatgooner

This summer is the most important one in Wenger’s career. He now has a squad which is just three players short of a title-winning one. If he is brave and sensible he can take us to that next level and turn us into champions. Sadly, I can see him deciding that “we have enough here already” and just bringing in a couple of modest squad players. That will just keep us in third/fourth place and last-sixteen in the Champions’ League. Not good enough. The key signing for me should be a world-class striker. Henry was right: Giroud just isn’t good… Read more »

Karl

Exactly. I don’t agree that we need Suarez or Agüero simply because it is unrealistic. But there are certainly players which could be on the market in the summer which would be an upgrade on Giroud. Giroud has done a decent season but too reliant on his teammates. We need someone who can create chances on his own. Like Agüero or Suarez as you mentioned. Giroud will never be a player of that type. He is a good player to have in the box and are definetly good enough to be playing for arsenal. I just feel that he should… Read more »

Paul

Captain Negative is back! 🙂

chippy's chip

Realistic, i think you’ll find.

Trez

Captain Positive is back!!

Eternal Titi Berg Pat Nostalgia

Fatgooner, apart from your pessimism about Wenger, lot of things you say make sense. There are not too many strikers like Suarez that are available though. you mean Falcao, Cavani ? There are only merchandises. Lacazette ? Hadn’t Giroud done what he is doing in french league in the past ?

Arsepedant

That would be the Falcao that scored all of four league goals this year? I don’t see Cavani or Javier Martinez doing much better than Falcao in the PL. They’ll score buckets of goals in leagues where only three or four teams can defend, but in the PL every team can defend, as Falcao has found out this year. Lacazette might do well, he’s got a bit of presence.

Trez

Giroud scored 21 for Montpelier while lacazette has already scored 27 and the season isn’t up. Quality in ligue 1 is much higher than when giroud was there.
Comparing a falcao on his first season back from a serious injury to giroud is laughable. Why don’t you compare falcao’s last season at atletico to his??
Giroud fanboys trying to make it seem like giroud is “hard to replace” which is nonsense. Jackson martinez and cavani would do at least do as well if not better than giroud.

Arsenalnut

Not many “world class” strikers out there. Unless we can shanghai one (Cavani?) I’d be happy with one good enough to offer competition for Jude and with a different skills set.

Who do you have in mind? Let’s hear some names. Then let’s compare their stats to Jude’s this year (not last year or the year before). Like many of Arsene’s best acquisitions Jude has improved while at the club. He also has some “automatisms” a new galactico will need to develop. New players effect balance.

ruel

It goes without saying that the most consistent team won the league, when they could not win they settled for draws. In arsenal case we were not consistent and that is the reason we are not champions this season, Many will say its the injuries which has caused us to falter this season, i however feel its the leadership qualities of players in various position of the team cost us this title. If we re to win this league we have to be consistent in our victories, have the right balance of players fr each match, have good leaders and… Read more »

hk1

Well no league title next season then lads. Remember who told you first. Wenger and Gazidis in the Summer need to write on the board of which ever room they have meetings in ‘We finished 10 points off Chelsea last season’. They should look at it whenever they think Arsenal don’t need a new player we can just do. Arsenal would’ve had a good go at the league if they had signed a cb in the Summer and hadn’t fumbled about for half a season in that position. They would’ve challenged for the league if Wenger had been proactive and… Read more »

Andy Mack

Are Suarez or Aguero available and interested in coming to us?

goonerestgooner

he said “a” Suarez or Aguero, meaning players like them

Stringer Bell

Name them, don’t just make statements. This ain’t play station.

Andy Mack

Such as?

Swish

Ah yes, because they are many, I have an Aguero stuffed down the back of my sofa, didn’t think much of it as they were on special offer at the time. I also have a Suarez up in my loft keeping the rats at bay.

Swish

In fact, why on Earth is Wenger not being more ambitious? He should get a Messi or Ronaldo type player as well, in fact, he should get 8 of them. Then FatGooner will be happy.

greg

Still need schnederlin. Coq could learn a great deal from him plus there are games when both together would be needed. Arteta and flamini got to go

Paul

I do agree our Coq needs support!

Bosscielny

Departures

Campbell
Flamini
Podolski
Diaby 🙁
Possibly Walcott

Loans (premier League clubs preferably)

Gnabry
Sanogo
Akpom
Jenkinson

I want rosicky and Cazorla to stay atleast a year more.

The additions should be top quality which improve the squad.

Karl

This loan spell really showed us that Yaya Sanogo just aren’t good enough to be loaned out to a premier league team and play regularly. I’d say that Jenkinson and Sanogo probably would be better off seeking careers at other clubs. I’d keep 3 players on that list if I could: Campbell, Podolski and Walcott.

badaab

Flamini, diaby, rosicky, poldi, and campbell all likely to go. I think one of santi or Walcott could go, too.
I’d be happier losing Walcott at this point than Santi, but if we could somehow get Isco… I’d be okay with santi going back to Spain. Isco is as close to a ready made santi – replacement as we’re likely to find.

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