Arsene Wenger says he’ll have the full support of Stan Kroenke when the transfer window opens in July.
The manager has already hinted that he’s looking to sign three new players this summer with Borussia Moenchengladbach’s Granit Xhaka reportedly top of the list.
While insisting the majority shareholder is no obstacle to spending money on squad reinforcements, the Frenchman caveated his statement by stressing that a desire to open the chequebook doesn’t necessarily result in finding the right players.
“Stan Kroenke is completely behind myself and the board investing as much money as we want. It has to be in respect of a balanced budget, we have resources but the problem is finding players. Everybody has money in England and they’re all after good players.
“The good players aren’t legion, you have to be shrewd and be a little bit lucky.”
The boss went on to hint he could strengthen up front after a frustrating season in front of goal.
The Gunners hit the back of the net in the league on 65 occasions, bettered by all of their top four rivals, all too regularly squandered excellent build-up work with poor finishing, particularly at the Emirates.
Arsenal's conversion rate was 15.6% – ranked sixth just behind Chelsea 16.0%. Best in PL was Leicester 17.2% @AAllenSport
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) May 16, 2016
“It was good to have our fans happy and everybody happy from a fantastic game,” Wenger told Arsenal Player after yesterday’s 4-0 win over Aston Villa.
“It was a good finish to the season. We finished second in the league and it was not what we wanted.
“We know what our step is now, last year we finished third and this year second, so hopefully we can go one better next season. I have to pay tribute to the spirit of the team, they didn’t give up and they were fighting to the end of the season.
“It is significant because we are in a period where we have not had the resources in recent years to compete with the big teams. Since we have had that, we have finished third last year and second this season.
“I think it is not a disastrous season [finishing second], but it sets the target for what we want to achieve and we have to add something to get first place. There were a few home points which we should not have dropped and as well I think we are short of a few goals in the number we scored.”
Fellaini, Michu, Williams
SORTED
I never want that elbow bashing twat wearing red and white…
I have to give credit where credit is due as Arsene managed to get them over the line in 2nd. I gave up and gave my ticket away and ended missing one of the best days of the season. Missed the Manure match too… Arrrrrrrrgh
Not convinced by Michu but yes to the others. Fellaini is superb in the air and Arsenal urgently need to fix the weakness against crosses. Don’t like him but he is what we need.
Did you post this from the summer of 2013? Michu was last seen playing in the fourth tier of Spanish football. Fellaini is utter shite and Williams, while game, is just too slow. He would get roasted in the Champions League.
Yep, Michu was diagnosed with bi polar 3 years ago and his knees are fucked up. Fellaini no thanks & Ashley Williams is past his best. Let’s set our sights a little higher, like 90 degrees higher.
Sarcasm font needed, apparently.
Clearly.
Fellaini, Bony and Williams.
The fact that 45 people entertained the idea that this is who somebody could want over the summer shows how bad things have become. haha, come on people you’ve got to be better than that.
Is everybody forgetting the TV deal and the 100 million plus coming from that? Surely that is plain money in the bank for this club, especially as our books are nice and ‘balanced’. #Noexcuses
This is clearly a joke, and the people replying with serious answers are the butt of it.
Sell the ranch Stan!
Stan owns 3 sports franchises(L.A. Rams, Denver Nuggers, and Colorado Rockies) in america that each make more money than Arsenal, bub. he doesn’t need to sell his ranch.
“balanced budget” sounds very political – Arsenal aren’t in a recession! We should buy players that other clubs are after, just so they can’t get them. Why not?! We have enough cash now and it would be good to start acting like the top club in England.
FFP ruled says clubs need a balanced budget.
As he says – We have the resources. Our own business model seems more stringent than what the FFP stipulates. I just want this team to be the best it can be cos I fucking love Arsenal.
Our time is now. Reap the rewards. Victory through harmony
Well FFP has gone backwards. Please read FFP related news from 29th June/July 1st 2015.
But they are still ‘in place’.
financialfairplay.co.uk explains the 2016/17 rules.
according to FFP we still can spend about 300 million this summer. and I don’t think thats what Wenger means by balanced budget.
Balanced budget isn’t political – it is a financial reality. We have a manager that wants there to be money left for whoever is in charge next season, the season after that, and so on and so on. Yes we have money in the bank though the amount actually available to spend isn’t the 200mill everyone quotes. But we will always need money in the bank. And we always need to make a profit each season to have a competitive budget to improve the squad or rejuvenate it. It is a sad indictment of the way the sugar daddy model… Read more »
We are a massive club and we should start acting like it. That means spending more to get deals done early, and taking chances on players who are in the market. God forbid we ever have another Higuain moment, as it would be totally unnecessary given our financial power and stability
The Higauin deal or no deal is a classic case where people on the outside can have their view but they aren’t necessarily thinking either in terms of maintaining a budget or thinking about how the club conducts its business. The version of events is not 100% clear but most reliable journos report that a deal for the player had already been struck between Arsenal and Madrid of around £20mill. The club had done what you suggest – got their bid in for a player Madrid decided was surplus to requirements and every seemed in place. Then Higuain agent –… Read more »
Fair points, well made. It is my opinion, and no stress if you disagree, that Higuain’s father would not have dragged his heels on terms had there been a larger pot of cash in front of him in the first place. Roberto Soldado was sold in the same summer for £26million – granted different clubs/situations etc. – but after seeing that you would want more than £20million for your client. If we were in an awkward negotiating position, some of the blame has to lie at our door. I don’t think our deal-makers are very shrewd at the end of… Read more »
What a load of bollocks. Our deal makers are a joke. £40 million plus £1. That is our deal makers in action.
We are still not clued on to the reality of the transfer market hence why we lose out on the best players and even the international class players like Wanyama.
As for paying wages, we have been carrying injury prone players for years on our books. Where are the balanced books for that?
If Wanyama qualifies as world class then I’m definitely League 2 level…
Apparently our offer for Xhaka is around £2million under their valuation. Says it all really
Maybe we should give that Leicester business model a try.
£23mil on their players. PL Champions. Actual tactical plan for every games.
Doesn’t take the earth to do that.
we need to have zero financial power to start with. although having much of that, this actually is our approuch isnt it? and Liecter thing is a thing that happens once in history and their model was supposed to just keep them in the league. and at last: REALLY??
I don’t think ‘foul defensively in our box, kick it long, and hope the striker scores and never gets injured’ is a plan that would fare well for Arsenal.
I’m pretty certain our ‘fans’ wouldn’t be prepared to buy the next Vardy and then wait until his 4th season for him to hit form.
Well a good way to make some money to stash in the bank would be to advance in the CL and or win the BPL. Need to spend money to make money. Arsenal is the 5th richest club in the world, but not even in the top 10 in champions league pay out. You want to get closer to manu and Bayern? Stop getting bounced from the champions league every season.
Barca and Bayern may have something to with our recent CL history.
Atm no one wants to get close to Utd. Let’s not compare to Bayern, Barca & Madrid who have been the top 3 clubs for decades.
..We have a manager that wants there to be money left for whoever is in charge next season– By buying zero outfield players ?
..Limits to what we can spend on a player.. By buying zero outfield players. Is this the limit?
..every player we didn’t buy wasn’t a mistake.. In-fact we bought none barring a GK.
.. these decisions were made for the right reasons –What are those right reasons?
Whatever the business model you are talking about , is keeping us short of players plus combined with Wengers tactics we aint gonna win another PL title.
Chavski and $iteh finished above us last season and bought outfield players in the summer.
How did that go for them then?
*rules
I don’t think we need a defender (if Jenks returns). Gabriel is settling in and with another preseason, he’ll get better.
Jenks can be backup to Hector and if Gibbs doesn’t leave, we’ll be having 4 CBs, 2 LBs and 2 RBs. The goalkeeper situation is good with Emiliano and Szczesny already out on loan.
I think we need a deep lying playmaker, a winger and a striker.
Xakha, a winger and a striker and we’re good.
Whoever from Aston Villa put Gabriel on his ass this weekend. I am nowhere near convinced and would rather start with BFG if I’m honest. In fact, I would rather buy Varane but that’s just me. Matthias Ginter from Dortmund looks promising also.
Gabriel is absolutely dreadful in my opinion, like Squillaci/Silvestre levels of terrible. He’s so physically weak in the tackle and the air, so unaware of his surroundings, and very awkward on the ball. No composure whatsoever. I guess his one strength is that he’s a bit quicker than the average CB? Mertesacker is miles better but still shouldn’t be more than a squad player. A real centre back without glaring weaknesses is as big a priority as a centre forward this summer.
Liking the rumours about Xhaka too
Gabriel is only 24 (might be 25 now) so still v.young in terms of centre backs. The jury is still out for me
Completely agree with this, even yesterday against Villa he was getting exposed. We need an aerially dominant and positionally aware CB to compliment Koscielney, basically a slightly faster version of Mertesacker. Gabriel doesn’t compliment him at all
Chambers?
He should be getting game time ahead of Gabriel for sure but would you really be confident going into next season with him in the starting xi? It could work as I think he has potential in all the key areas for a centre back, but it’s probably too soon and would possibly be a bit of a disaster
Personally I think chambers has the makings of a top CB, he’s hardly put a foot wrong when playing there. Not quick enough for RB or technical enough for CM/DM but good enough & quick enough for CB, certainly a lot better than that clown Stones
I remember when we were signing Gabriel that we pulled out of signing Reid from West ham. He would have been a great signing. Everything Gabriel isn’t – speaks the language, can head the ball, can tackle, isn’t bullied by Costa, doesn’t appear terrified of the ball
also that Van somthing Southampton monster. well much like when we missed Cahill for Squllaci. Wenger never had a great eye for centre backs to be honest.
Gabriel has been disappointing. He hasn’t shown anywhere close to his Villarreal form. I hope he gets better or we should try out chambers. I have high hopes for chambo. We need to put him at a position and stick to it. I think he’ll make a good CB.
I have a theory that all our CBs, including Gabriel, are better than what they appear to be.
They just look bad as they are constantly left exposed to 1v1 situations with the arsenal system of play. Take the best CB in the world and we’ll make him look less than what he is in our system.
Also, Gabriel and Kos doesn’t work. I would’ve thought Wenger would’ve figured this out after the last time he tried to force Kos and Verm to work.
Give Gabriel a couple of season, his first season ever in PL doesn’t speak the language, he had some bad games but also some good ones, I remember Kos first season he played even worse than Gabriel and look at him now he became a monster of CB
^^ This. I was about to say it, but you beat me to it. The first season, everyone wanted Koscielny gone in January. Look at him now. Give Gabriel a chance to grow into the team.
Gabriel is what Koscielny was when he first came. Error prone. Look at Koscielny now. Still think we need an upgrade on our CBs though. Howedes would be nice.
Way too soon to judge Gabriel. Kochielny took a good couple of seasons before consistency kicked in.
I would like to see another CB, Gabriel does not always fill me with confidence although he will improve I’m sure. The BFG is getting on a little bit so if we signed that young lad from Bolton that we are meant to be chasing then that seems like a sensible move. Clearly if Gibbs goes we will need a LB but hopefully not. Completely agree with your other suggested signings!
So that’s a definitely maybe then? Great
Comment:Same Gabriel that was getting skinned all day by the Villa attackers , we absolutely need a new CB, if we’re serious about winning the league next season.
I hate his moustache
striker, mid, defender, and winger. that’s the list in order of highest priority to least.
Unlike a great deal of other fans, I admire the sensible and cautious approach Wenger has taken to the transfer window. The amount of research and scouting that goes into signing a player is beyond what most people realise. This is not EA Sports, it’s real life. There are consequences for signing flops – both in terms of team success and transfer methods in the following window. Wenger will never be the one who – like Moyes, Van Gaal, Mourinho, Pellegrini, Guardiola, and any Real Madrid manager – doesn’t really give a second thought about the price tag attached to… Read more »
And the new signings are:
– CB – Kostas Manolas
– DM – Granit Xhaka
– RM – Henrikh Mkhitaryan
– CF – NO IDEA AT ALL… Any one from Sturridge/Batshuayi/Aubameyang???
– CF ALTERNATIVES: Ibrahimovic OR a more Wengeresque signing: Umar Sadiq
Ozymandias for Football Manager 2017 Champion.
Not going to add to the wish lists, but it worries me that Wenger continues to talk about the need to be “shrewd”. Surely, at some point he will have to accept that every deal for every new player can’t be a bargain. For some positions he will simply have to bight the bullet and pay the asking price – or see them go elsewhere (as we have in the past).
Yeah, it’s a shame we haven’t forked out transfer records on any world-class marquee signings in recent years, isn’t it?
Isn’t that happening already? We overpaid for Özil & Cech. Xhaka’s rumoured fee is incredibly high for an upcoming CM. If Arsene believes the player is guaranteed to perform, he’ll pay over the odds. If there are doubts he’ll search for alternatives in that price range
It’s simple…3 players. A CB,CM/DM and a ST. This plus the likes of Jeff, Toral, zelalem, bielik and hayden and we’ll be ready to mount a serious challenge
Just love the end of season transfer hopes. Yeah right not anymore. Could be easier to balance them books if we offloaded some players as well as bringing in the vital 4 players not 3 that we need.
Also hope we put an end to an uneasy rumour going on with Alexis at the moment and he and Ozil put pen to paper.
Wenger has to say balance the budget to uphold his tight rectum image so we don’t get conned with pricing. It makes sense. Although annoying to hear if he said anything different we would be paying the top 3 premium of Chelsea, United and city who get fleeced. But Arsenal have to recognize with big names and money comes a bigger global fan base and bigger sponsorship. United are accumulating sponsors by the financial quarter and are just raking it in. The prem is seem everywhere at all times of the day and it’s huge. Stick a company logo on… Read more »
I may be in the minority here, but i think there is there is just as much a need to spruce up our midfield with a pacy, nimble footed winger as another striker or defensive midfielder. Mkhitaryan would be ideal.
Whenever I hear about Arsene spending money the bullshit meter goes through the roof.
It is a disastrous season because we blew it again.
“they didn’t give up and they were fighting to the end of the season.”
Not really true now, is it?
” we have not had the resources in recent years to compete with the big teams. Since we have had that, we have finished third last year and second this season”
And second behind the financial doping powerhouse that is Leicester.
But we still finished ahead of every other club we thought we would need to beat. Yes we failed but lost out to a Leicester side who played out the perfect season
Is it just me, or does Arsene sound “different” now? I just get the feeling that he really is going to go for it this summer and next season..
I really hope I’m not just being optimistic and he goes out with a real bang!
Sounds exactly the same.
This statement is basically “We have resources, but we are looking for super quality”.
Isn’t this how it begins? Then by summer it’s about internal solutions, not “killing” Ox and co, and how team cohesion will solve all the issues. And ofcourse, he’ll finish it off with some classic LANS.
Disagree here. He seems pretty comfortable putting the sword to the deadweight as he can this year. See: Walcott, Gibbs, Debuchy.
Didn’t he say he wants to keep Theo?
Not that I believe him anyways. He always says he wants to keep players he obviously wants to sell.
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
“but the problem is finding players. Everybody has money in England and they’re all after good players.
“The good players aren’t legion, you have to be shrewd and be a little bit lucky.”
Mate are you on drugs!? He says this evvvvvvvvvery year!
Because it’s true. We have to be honest – we have to compete with the biggest clubs in Europe and there are other clubs that might be seen to be a better and bigger draw. There are a finite level of world class players. This isn’t Footie Manager – we can’t just bid a certain level and players automatically come. It’s a far more nuanced situation than that. I love Arsenal, obviously, but the biggest and best in the game would arguably prefer to go to Barca,Bayern, Real etc. I’m not saying that good players don’t want to come here,… Read more »
We have no devine right to win the league, but after years of seeing our best players sold and being told by the board that we will be able to compete with the best in Europe in terms of transfers add to that the cost of tickets then as fans we do have the right to expect our club to spend the resources available to them when we have an obvious need. The reason so many arsenal fans are disgruntled is that need was there last season in terms of so many saying we needed a top striker, we didn’t… Read more »
we’re too loyal towards our players for our own good and when it should be other way around recent history shows it definitly is not the case (lost count how many of our graduates have won league with rivals). always giving moderate players too many chances and shoot ourselves in the leg once and again. (walcott’s young give him 10 years wait for a miracle denilson is young gibbs is szczesny is chamberlain is gabriel is jenkinson is djorou…) of course if what you seek is garanteed income and not risking any injury to the 250 million rated “money in… Read more »
I believe that we need new players in 3 positions which are
Striker: benzema or Vincent Jansesn or Morata
Midilfielder: Kante or xhaka or wanyama
Center back : Marquinhos or varane or Laporte or otamendi
Why does Wenger always make excuses like ‘ everyone has money’ or ‘the market place is competitive’ as if he doesn’t have the upper hand when competing for players against most clubs simply by being Arsenal FC? It’s a giant, world renowned club and most top end players would love to join. He needs to come across a bit more bullish and confident IMO. Identify his targets early and get your man no fucking about! LVG is a parody but at least he just said fuck it and brought in Martial, a player Wenger has known all about since he… Read more »
MSH — Martial, I agree, time will tell, but look at the immediate return. We’ve been unlucky with Welbeck, but where the fuck did he come from. Next time those “mugs” try to sell a player to us I suggest we run (Silvestre…).
Last year Gazidis said we could afford to buy anyone outside of Ronaldo and Messi. So buy some players. Why can Bayern announce 2 signings before the season ends and yet Arsene just dithers and dithers. I love him as the manager but am over him as the Player Personnel guy.
Yeah what we need is someone called Bob to take over HR… or maybe a committee. That seems to have worked out great elsewhere.
It was Lord Harris not Gazidis that said we could afford to buy any player apart from Ronaldo or Messi. As I doubt he has any input into buying the players I’d take it with a large pinch of salt. I think most fans have now seen the article from Collins Sarri Statham Investments which shows we only have 54 million available to buy players this summer unless we sell players to generate more cash. I am a little lost as to where all Arsenal’s money goes, huge kit deal, more tv money, more prize money, champions league cash and… Read more »
The issue for us is two fold. 1)Just because we have money to spend does not mean we are the only team with money to spend. There are a good 7-8 teams in Europe who have the spending power to spend equal to or more than us. And some of these teams will very likely have requirements in similar positions to us. For example, the number of top strikers in Europe are far and few. The likes of MOrata and Icardi recently bandied around score half as many goals a season as Giroud. Most top end players are already in… Read more »
Santori- well said.
Wes Morgan, Joe Allen and Stephen Fletcher.
This team needs some English grit. Make it so, Wenger.
Er, Joe Allen is Welsh!
I think maybe Fletcher is a Scot.
Morgan is Jamaican and over 30!!
How anyone has trust in wenger is beyond me. He rolls out every excuse in the book and when he runs out of anything legitimate he says we were nervous or lacked confidence. As if that’s an acceptable excuse. His blind loyalty and favouritism towards certain players (ramsey, giroud, mertasacker) his bad management of certain players (ox is a great talent and I partly blame wenger for his lack of progress. Coquelin has been treated badly as well) and his inability to inspire and focus the players for so many games is costing us. Anyway with that said let’s look… Read more »
Wasn’t sure if serious, but then got to the Deeney and Berahino part and realised you must be having a massive laugh.
Oh my. If you’re not working as a stand up comedian somewhere you are simply wasting your talent.
25 mill for Troy Deeny?LOL!! You want to replace Giroud (who admittedly needs an upgrade) with Berahino who has scored half the number of premier league goals (23 vs 46) in almost the same number of matches (98 vs 101) over the past 3 years?
And then, it looks like you are suggesting we get James to replace Ozil and still make a 10 mill profit?
You my friend are very talented
I think I can pinpoint the exact WORD when you must have shot up
What’s everyone worried about? We’ve got Yaya coming back next year!
In all seriousness, Arsene’s not stupid. He hears the groans from the fans and the stats don’t lie about our goal output this season. He will break the bank by his standards and buy a top striker. Maybe not an Aguero or Suarez type, as there arn’t too many of that quality available, but he will buy someone to seriously battle Giroud for the starting CF.
If he doesn’t. He’s digging his own grave and he knows it.
lol@ Wenger thinking we never had disastrous season. This was our best chance to win the PL and we choked big time!
Aubameyang, Reus, Gotze – Bundesliga players are world class
Don’t need to spend millions on “star players” in all spots, would be nice to see the cash splashed on one top level player, but what will be more important are the decisions Wenger makes with the existing squad members that should/could be sold as well as players brought in that are the “right” players for Arsenal. His purchase of Elneny was one that brought much more balance and depth to the squad (which should have been done last Summer) and was only a few million. You see all the tens of millions City, United, Chelsea, etc. have spent on… Read more »
Iheanacho scored more than Bony who cost City a lot more than him. Vardy scored a lot more than Martial who cost United a lot more than Vardy costs. Mahrez is player of the season, he cost Leicester a lot less than many midfielders in the PL cost. Check the team of the season, how many big money buys would you find? We NEED to buy players to strengthen alright but what we need to win the league is players + tactics. City have this squad of big money players, they only just made the top 4. I hope we… Read more »
Zlatan(he’s free by the way) Xhaka, Guardado, and Kieren Tierney.