It would appear that silly season is well and truly under way. And Arsene Wenger is having none of it.
Having spent last Friday’s press conference playing down links with Petr Cech, the boss was again peppered with questions about potential summer transfer activity.
Unsurprisingly, he remained coy on the possibility of bidding for the Chelsea keeper, as well as Liverpool’s Raheem ‘Pound’ Sterling and Manchester City’s James Milner.
“At the moment we are not in a transfer mode,” explained Wenger. “We want to finish our season well. We have put massive effort in since the start of the season to come back into a potentially good position in the Premier League, and now we need to focus on finishing well.
“We have put so much effort in that it would be stupid not to finish the job well. The transfer period comes after the FA Cup final.”
According to the BBC, England international Sterling will tell Liverpool on Friday that he won’t sign a contract renewal at Anfield; a state of affairs that has seen the winger touted as a possible acquisition by Manchester City and the Gunners.
“I do not bid for anybody at the moment,” continued the boss when asked about the player. “In the summer we will bid for people. At the moment we are not in transfer mode at all.
“You absolutely want me to say something that I don’t want to say. I don’t like to lie. If I say that I will and I don’t do it, then I have lied.
“I promise you that you [the reporter] will be my first advisor in the summer to make the transfers.”
On Milner’s age being a reason not to bid he added: “Twenty-nine is not old. As I just told you we are in front of a big game tomorrow and we are not at all focused on that.
“We have a big squad at the moment and it is not especially… we do not need a number of players. Contract talks at the moment are not in my mind at all. What I want is to finish well the season, and after I will make my decisions.”
Clearly exasperated by the line of questioning, Wenger then tried to change the subject when asked about Cech, whose agent said last night that a move to the Emirates isn’t out of the question.
“There again, I can only repeat what I told you.”
You can be sure that Arsene will have to field similar questions after the match tomorrow and in his pre and post-game press conferences for the West Brom game. And no doubt, he’ll get another dose in the build-up to the FA Cup final. You have to admire his ability to remain polite in the circumstances…
not sure about Sterling, does he really represent an improvement on Theo or would we be getting into a similar experience with the younger player, just as Theo comes into his theoretical peak years? Albeit peak years of consistency in patches, etc
Sterling and theo both on respective flanks and alexis in the middle. With alexis right in front of ozil and speed on both the flanks I reckon ozil will be licking his lips.
But is that sterling kid at our level is the real question!
I like the idea of Sanchez in the middle, I really do think it could work (also negates his biggest flaw, his ability to lose the ball, centrally it becomes less damaging with 3 CMs behind him).
But Sterling in our wing? I’d rather Ox tbh. Sterling can be a great player, but let’s focus on our needs first shall we? Before adding another diminutive attacking midfielder to Wenger’s huge collection of them already.
I would take Pedro if he is available for 10-15m over 40-50m sterling anyday
Agreed.
Or indeed Gnabry for free.
Yes to Pedro.
Vote Pedro!
To be totally frank. Raheem has a better footballing brain than theo. Theo has more pace and probably better finishing but raheem is an all round more effective player in my eyes, on the wing and in midfield plus hes not too bad up front…. I’ll get my coat!
Jimmy Milner even being considered is an absolute farce. Surely the only positions we’re in for would be Striker and only very possibly a centre back?
A holding midfield would be great. Arteta is injury prone, flamini is not up to the level. Someone like schneiderlin is still needed.
In his first three seasons Arteta was ever present. Surely there is a bit more left in the Spaniards tank.
What is this fascination with schneiderlin??? He is not a defensive midfielder??? Wanayma is a better holding player,but i don’t know if i would buy anyone to replace the coq.For me he’s the best of the lot.
I love our Coq, but we have to be objective and remove our blindspot here. Unsupported him when everyone, especially arseblog had a campaign to write him off, but his passing is pretty sub-par and can become a weakness to target if teams want to (no doubt someone like that cunt Jose would target it next season).
Coq deserves to battle for that spot, but let’s stop just handing over positions to players without any competition. It seldom worked well for us in the past.
I’ve supported*
Stupid autocorrect.
To be fair, he’s a very underrated and consistent player who would be a reasonable squad player. Can’t see it happening though and I’m sure we – quite rightly – have higher priorities.
I think we’re suited at CB with Kos, Mert, Chambers and Gabriel for the next few years.
I think we might see BFG slowly being phased out now. I suspect that Gabriel and Chambers will be given chances in the summer and that this time next year Mertesacker could be saying farewell.
I’m afraid, Wenger thinks so, too. This is the reason we are not (and won’t be next season) challenging for the title. You can thumb me down know.
Milner on a free would actually be a canny acquisition. Loads of experience, could do a job for us as and when required. No intro’ the Prem required.
I’d rather him than Sterling any day. Having shipped Bendtner and Addeybayour out, we don’t need any more ego trippers – we need team players. Sterling’s behaviour at Anfield smacks of Anelka, here, 15 years ago. I’d rather not.
I sincerely hope we offer £20, 000 001 for Sterling (with no actual intention of buying him)
Agreed. I’ve gone right off him and hes not nearly as good as he thinks he is, imo. ( @ con)
Sterling won’t go to a European club cos they deal in Euros… (I think I’ve got somebody else’s coat!)
“I don’t want to lie” & the next sentence “I promise you will be my first advisor!!!” Talk about being ironical
Not sure I’d be happy with Sterling, he went missing at the Emirates. Forgot he was even on after himself and Markovic bottled that chance.
Didn’t help that we p!ssed all over their midfield that day though…
All players go missing from time to time, but yeah, the hype around Sterling went away at about the same time Liverpool’s form tanked.
I think the Ox is as good or better than Sterling, so honestly, I’m not fussed either way about his availability.
Went missing but still won the penalty. He was their best player on the day, not that it’s much to shout about though.
We are cruising at about 25,000 feet. The seat belt lights will come off when the pilot switches to transfer mode. We hope you have an enjoyable flight.
Hey yo, GreekTradegy!
I heard that guy is pretty cool. Pretty, pretty cool.
Drinks, snacks and top top quality players are available from the duty free section
The use of mobile devices is strictly forbidden when in non-transfer mode. Could Arsenal please collect their 3 points enabling them to pass go and play champions league football without qualifiying by Wednesday at the latest. Thank you for your attention
Wenger: “I don’t like to lie”….
Me: Stop lying
Surprised by Milner rumours, but will definitely take him. Very useful squad player who can play in a variety of positions and is fairly robust.
Aye, I have to say I’ve always been fond of him as a player. Certainly not top priority given the squad we have, but potentially a handy guy to have about, particularly if TR7 does go.
Would seem an odd move for him though, one can only think he’d want to leave City in the hope of more playing time which might be hard to come by at Arsenal… perhaps there are other personal reasons. It’s not like he’s a boyhood arsenal fan or something
Handy Milner
He’s a good player, but I don’t see the point. We don’t need squad depth, we need one or two very good players who will be in or very close to our best eleven. I don’t see how Milner fits into that picture.
Also, I can imagine Milner is probably sick of being a depth player by now, so I would expect him to go to a Europa League team rather than a Champions League team.
Yes; we are in trophy-winning mode. Make it happen.
I’d be really disappointed if we signed sterling. He’s not an improvement on theo or the ox, and I think gnabry will be a better player. he’s best suited going to City and becoming the new Scott Sinclair.
I think he’s a slight improvement on Walcott, but not on the Ox, who is, I think the best of those three players.
John Barnes “Sterling hasnt achieved anything”. Err John maybe that is why he is looking for a move to a club where he has a chance to!!
Transfer gossip oh dear. In other news, reports are coming in that Stamford Bridge’s groundsman has accidentally driven his steamroller over John Terry’s head.
It wasn’t accidental i assure you
Steamroller?? Lol
If we think back to the Invincibles and what made them so successful was that the opposition could not even get at our back 4 with Vieira & Gilberto Silva in the way. Coquelin has shown the potential of being the new Gilberto Silva and has made the role his. We need a Vieira type midfielder to play along side him to make a powerful midfield again and the closest thing out there is Y.Toure or my personal pick Pogba. With those two in midfield and say a clinical striker we would be on that next level we’ve been talking… Read more »
We already have our new-Vieira on the books, he even resembles him physically.
…Cazorla.
He IS perfectly right this time. Journalists want him to say ‘yes we will reinforce the team in the summer’ so they can speculate on potential target. This is only good for destabilising the current team with the feeling of ‘being not good enough’ because the same journalists will spread rumours on who is likely to be sold. Wenger is wise enough to not give them that opportunity, the scums!
You mean to tell me wenger knew milner’s age? hmmm. thats strange.
His age was probably mentioned in the question.
We have a massively bloated squad and we clearly need to get rid of 7 or 8 to make way for new additions. If Wenger is ruthless this summer with the outgoings and aggressive with the purchases we might just be in with a chance of the league next year.
The question is he capable of doing it?
This massively bloated squad is the reason we went on that run when Theo, Wilshere, Arteta and co were out for long periods.
Yes, last time I counted we have 28 first team players and that doesn’t include the likes of Gnabry, Akpom, Zelalem etc.
We could easily lose the likes of Diaby, Flamini, Sanogo, Campbell, Rosicky, Podolski, even Arteta, Walcott, Jenkinson and we wouldn’t notice and replace them with players who can actually contribute and make our team better.
Hahahahaha Raheem ‘Pound’ Sterling
WTF are they smoking over there at anfield.
Wouldn’t be surprised if City have contacted both Theo and Sterling already and ultimately buy. They need English players and they both want money (it seems). Although I’d want to get away from Rodgers too!
I don’t think that Sterling’s coming. With the likes of Sanchez, the Ox and Welbeck in our squad I can’t see where Sterling would get a regular game. I like him, and for me he’s a better player than Walcott, but signing him would make no sense. Our priorities are a top-class goalkeeper, a defensive midfielder most of all a world-class striker. That’s where all the transfer budget must go. I actually don’t blame Sterling for wanting to get out of Anfield. Any ambitious young player would want to leave the sinking ship that is Liverpool FC. It looks unlikely… Read more »
You talk a lot of sense when you’re not angry.
Its not like I don’t like Giroud, but our top priority should be a striker. Spend big bucks like we have been doing for the past 2 seasons on a striker, and I wouldn’t mind not signing anyone else. Any other signing would be a bonus.
Don’t disagree with you per-say but my question would be who? and if we spend 30/40 million on a guy who only gets us lets say 5 extra goals to what Giroud has contributed (14) this season is it worth it? I’m not sure. Also where does that leave Welbz? I’m all for spending money when you can get an Ozil or Sanchez in their chosen position i just don’t know if there are any out there that are a massive increase to what he brings us.
See Fatgooner preach it ! Well said sir !
Yes, a very polite, patient and tolerant man.
Forget Sterling Go for cech or Loris Sneiderlin or Kondogbia Higuain or Benzema.
and maybe a cheeky bid for Reus.
Two or three of those players and we have a title winning squad.
Milners good but only as a squad player.
get rid of Podolski Sanogo and bring in that world class striker
Wenger is ice cool when it comes to questioning how he dont just tell em to do one i dont know, he is being respectful to his squad by not mentioning transfers and keeping them focused on the jobs at hand 2 league games and a mighty FA cup. its a no win situation for him if we were to lose the cup game (god help twitter meltdown) they would all say he needs to buy they can go fuck em selves, journo’s, reporters, sky,
and esp now Henry fallen into the trap nicely on the spend wagon
@ ed the red. Is that really Fatgooner or someone else high jacked his account? ? Odd from Fatgooner really. Who ever it tell us what you have done to our Fatgooner and bring him back
Wenger out now!
Happy now?
Heeeey we have our original Fatgooner back pheww
We need Solomon Kalou. The press knows. He is “World Class” that Arsenal needs. Or maybe Yann MVilla. Or perhaps we should go for “World Class” like Radamel Falcao or the return of RVP both of whom incidentally also drew blank last weekend. Clearly James Milner is what Arsenal needs, a technically inept but no nonsense “get stuck in” type who is closing in on thirty bc we need the sort of “fighting ambition and experience never mind we already have experience in every corner of the squad. I mean we should be spending money like water in the likes… Read more »
Well, le Prof may not be in “transfer mode” but it certainly seems a lot of Gooners are.
Can’t we just stop making silly predictions and offering pointless opinions, at least until this important season is over? Stop feeding the press by clicking on their links to transfer rumours.
There’s a probable third (and possible second) place in the League to anticipate, and a Cup Final at Wembley to look forward to. I’m happy with that.
we shld be more focused on beating Sunderland on Wednesday and winning the fa cup next weekend… we still ve over 2 months to buy who we need for next season’s success…I think however that we need 2 good players to compete effectively next season: a defensive midfielder and a world class striker…if Ospina conceded the goals T. Courtois conceded against westbrom last night,he would be slated unendingly. I believe Ospina is good for enough if we can defend better.
rosicky will probably leave this summer and cazorla has only a couple of seasons left so thats 2 players we will be losing and i think sterling would be a perfect replacement for cazorla/rosicky if we get him.
plus i’d love to see the look on BR and the liverpool hierarchy s faces after what they did to us during the suarez saga.
We definitely need to buy another quality striker though to rotate with giroud to have any chance of winning the title.
@Antispud, Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day and today Fatgooner was on the money. He has since of course reverted to type.