Arsene Wenger was inevitably asked about transfers at his press conference on Thursday morning, and said that it’s possible that players could come and go, although he did seem to indicate a desire to make space in the squad to integrate some young talent.
Having dealt with the Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain situation, the Arsenal manager was asked if he saw more outgoings than incomings.
“Both will happen,” he said before correcting himself and saying, “Both can happen.
“It depends how many players will go to see if we can bring another in. You’re on alert in the final seven days and everybody gets agitated and the phones ring more often than before.
“Sometimes you have to share the work in the final day because you have some cases going out, some coming in. The last two days are always very hectic.”
Once again he declared himself pleased with the quality of his squad, and hinted that some youth prospects would be given a chance in the season ahead.
“I’m happy with the strength of the squad,” he said.
“I’m completely happy with the strength of the squad. I have said many times that we have too many players in our squad.
“Some of them have no chance to compete for places because we have too much competition and that’s no good for players as well because they don’t play.
“On the other hand, one of the values of this club is to give a chance to youngsters who deserve it. If you have too many players of confirmed status you’re in a difficult position to give a chance to young players.
“We have the luck to have three or four players of top quality who deserve a chance.”
Goodnight sweet Premier League season :'(
We have an absurd situation.
The players we want to keep, won’t commit. And the players we want to shift won’t leave, because no one will pay them much more than half the wages Wenger has ludicrously signed them to.
What does that say about how Wenger runs the Club ? (Into the ground..)…
I’m beginning to believe ‘Gazidis’ wanted change, but the old fool overruled him. The ego of the senile outdated fool trumps even ‘Maureeens’
You’re having a laugh if you think Gazidis wants change. He is laughing all the way to the bank. Another year of being competitive while bringing in a $hiteload of cash and getting a tonne of pats on the back from Kroenke. Gazidis is absolutely culpable in all this mess
Show some respect dude. Disagree, but don’t disrespect.
Sounds like there is still some hope of further additions. Will be interested to see what actually happens.
it’s the hope that kills….
Always
Do not be discouraged, a great man once said “It may be the last key in the bunch that opens the door!” Likewise it might be the last hour of the transfer window that unlocks a title winning season.
I’m sure that great man is locked inside one of doors.
Pop, that great man is Arsene Wenger and that unlockable door is his Mind.
I’m sorry I meant un-unlockable
or not
I love your optimism. At the beginning of the transfer window I was thinking like that, but the ole trickster has done it to me again. We need 2-3 players to crack the top 4 (or at least the top 3). You simply can’t add that depth and quality last minute.
I’m praying for an early Christmas present…Santi returns!
Didn’t we get Mesut last minute in the transfer window?
Santi Claus always comes to my house. Let’s see him at the Emirates.
It might be the same key we use season after season. While we try to make the perfect key to open the door, other teams are using bulldozers to knock out the door. And here, we are stuck with an old locksmith repeatedly and unsuccessfully jamming the same key into the lock again and again.
Well, err… Using bulldozers to knock out doors is perhaps a bit too crude for a man so refined & suave as Arsene Wenger, I think.
Maybe (I’m not trying to sound clever) it’s not so much the locksmith, but the people he works for. The result, obviously, remains the same – but sometimes, it doesn’t help screaming at the poor guy minding the service desk when we’re unhappy with the company policy that the guy is forced to follow.
I don’t know the “command chain” at our club, and I’m not defending or attacking anyone – but that uncertainty in itself is enough to drive me to drink. I don’t know who is responsible. And isn’t that a problem in and of itself?
The question remains Traveen of exactly why we are still fumbling around with the keyring…
True that. But, it just might be that the fumbling stops in the next few days. Pretty unlikely, but still…all I, as a powerless & helpless fan can do is…just Hope & Pray.
Isn’t every club still looking for players?
we need new challenges to be better…… what next?
You’re so right. All about the expectations. i knew in June we’d be fighting for 5th or 6th place. Then i foolishly got a little excited during pre-season. What a sucker. Still get fooled after all these years.
I think the board’s given a mandate to cut the wage/transfer spend in a Europa League year, and Wenger would rather ship out a bunch of “mediocre” players (in his view) for the same amount that Sanchez would fetch…
Is this the same board that claimed that they were ready for life without the finances that come with the Champions League?
We’ll pull off a shock deal for Mbappe for €200 million and play him at centre half. Sanchez at full back. Mertesacker up front with Cech in midfield pulling the strings. Ozil in nets.
When we start the season knowing our cbs are unavailable, its expected that someone plays there so arsene used the next best thing available to him. Full backs, its a bit daft to go so far as to mock the team selection when there arent other options available at present. And buying a player to fill in for three weeks is pretty stupid too so we couldn’t ddo that. We have three points, two more than this time last year, those points would have got us into top four last season. Chill out guys.
When we start the season without enough centre backs I would posit that it’s bad planning once again to not have a squad ready for the season.
This was the case against Liverpool last year….and we finished 3 points behind them for the last Champions League place.
You cannot ignore the same problems occurring every single year.
I’m muting my expectations until 2019, I just can’t see a comfortable and unchallenged 67 year old changing his ways simply because other people have the audacity to question rather lauding him without question.
How many CBs do you think we need in the squad then?
I’m all for youth getting a chance, really the Europa League would be the best platform for that.
But we need at least two new players, probably not going to happen, but ideally a replacement for Cazorla and, if Mustafi is to leave, a quality CB.
We should be aiming to win the Europa league.
It’s a realistic aim for us this season.
The harsh realities of missing out on the champions league
How is this different from most summers with CL?
How many players have we sold in the last 5 summers and how many have we sold and will be sold this summer?
This summer: Gabriel, Szczesny, Toral, Hinds, Bennacer, Crowley, Willock (free), Da Graca (free), Sanogo (free). Plus plenty more
Last: Gnabry, Hayden, Silva, Rosicky, Arteta (free), Flamini (free).
Not trying to troll, but the only ones of all of these that are true champions league calibre are Gnabry (mayyyybe) and Szczesny. Is your point that we have too many players now that we’re out, or that we’re having trouble keeping players?
I said sold, not released. We’re now talking about selling first team players like Mustafi, that’s a very negitive turn if true
Not if we replace him with better. Say VVD.
It doesn’t matter who we buy our midfield is the problem and has been for about ten years
Who’s talking about selling Mustafi ? Certainly not Aw
He didn’t rule it out but has been saying all summer that we won’t sell Alexis, he’s more than capable of making unequivocal statements if he wants too
Man U bought Pogba and Zlatan. Lets not find excuses to blame just because Players won’t join us.
Utd coughed up huge fees on pogba and huge wages on Ibra. When players are asking for Wages higher than Wenger’s £190 000, I just don’t think he’ll agree to that. Perhaps, that’s why we’re at this point
United missed out on the champions league and their reaction was pay over the board for Paul Pogba, Bring in Zlatan and Henrik. Our reaction is to give a chance to youth players? What a joke. We seem to just want to give youth players a chance even when they ain’t worth the chance. Over the years we have thrown away so many games trying to give the youth players a chance and eventually they we realize they can’t make the grade examples are Denilson, Bendtner, Pennant, Senderos, Djourou, Gibbz, Jenkinson, Upson, Bentley. Over the years we have had only… Read more »
We have got Lacazette and Kolasinac in (so far)… and they aren’t shit…
Also Iwobi came through the youth set-up, so 3 of them in recent years is better than most other clubs.
Who was the last academy player that really made it at Chavski or $iteh or even Utd don’t have many (and they had to buy one of them back at a stupid price) ?
So not all doom and gloom.
There will be in and outgoings on many sides..many sides everybody.
The key question: are we going to buy enough that returning to Champions League after this year becomes probable and not just possible?
Unfortunately right now it feels like we still need 1-2 starter-caliber signings plus Sanchez staying before I’d start to feel confident in top 4. The signings would have to be really strong for me to feel like we could contend for the league. Hopefully our ambitions are higher than I give the team credit for currently.
(FWLIW fivethirtyeight.com gives us a 43% chance of Champions League and 7% chance to win league. Feels about right to me…)
Too optimistic. United, Citeh, Chelski streets ahead. Liverpoo and Scum ahead. I’d go with 20% top 4 and 2% win Premier League.
Note: if we lose Sanchez my odds start to look more like yours. If Cazorla comes back full strength by early 2018 my odds would go up slightly.
Though currently I am admittedly guessing the first is more likely than the second. 🙁
Sure get rid of Debuchy and bring in Nelson, I think all Arsenal fans applaud the effort to give opportunities to youth prospects.
But to pretend that this team does not need crucial first Xl reinforcements is just plain deluded.
It’s clear that most of the players we are trying to shift are not that desirable with the current wages they are on. Why not just offer them on at minimal fee’s to offset that.
Unless arsen is now using the large squad as an excuses to not actually buy any more players.
Arsene has been chasing M’bappe for a year now. I just can’t imagine how he will let this one go without a fight. It is obvious M’bappe is moving now.
Reports say PSG is the destination but if I were Monaco, between PSG and Arsenal I would sell M’bappe to Arsenal. Ofcourse I would expect a bid between 120-150 million.
How hard is it to sell Walcott, Mustafi and make room for M’bappe?
Mbappe would like to work under French Manager, who has brought young players in and has won consecutive Champions League. If you were Monaco, you’d sell it to Real Madrid who will offer far more than Arsenal, and not just in terms of money.
This is not an American model, where most players can be sent to another team without their consent. Mbappe can only go where both his club and he agree.
You have an inflated idea of how much Walcott and Mustafi can fetch in the market. Why wouldn’t Mbappe want to play for PSG? He’s from France and get to play for the dominant club and get paid handsomely for it. Just like elite youth German players flocking to BM.
Walcott and Mustafi can fetch around 40 million and free up around 200k in wages. If we make a 120-150 million bid then we will have a good chance. Maybe even loan Wilshere or Iwobi to Monaco for a season. Our net spend will be more than 100 million for sure. The kid has enough talent to help us challenge for trophies and he has a very high re-sale value. Wenger always said if he found the right player he is not afraid to spend even if costs a 100 million. If we don’t at the very least fight for… Read more »
He might not care, to learn English.
Oh no, sharing the workload, Wengers worst nightmare coming true.
I have a feeling we don’t see another signing. Wenger will sell some players like Debuchy and Lucas but that’s all.
Wait…he said“I’m happy with the strength of the squad,” OR he said: “I’m completely happy with the strength of the squad? The first one is pushing it, & well the second I find simply dillusional. Both also completely miss the issue of the current situation of so many players being almost out of contract, which surely no one can be “happy” with…Surely? Surely??? (We can’t get even one to commit???) Also, since when was a bit of competition within the squad a bad thing? Well obviously if you just keep playing the same players regardless – yes. I get what… Read more »
It is pretty clear from the context that by “strength” of the squad, he meant numbers. He said, as he often does, that competition for places is a good thing. His “too much competition” comment was an echo of what he said earlier about Lucas Perez, who has so many people ahead of him that he can never have a chance to compete for a place.
Why do you think it dillusional that Arsene is “completely happy with the strength of the squad”? Are you judging him by your own ambition? May be you want Arsenal to – at least- break into the top four, win Europa league and – at most – challenge for the league title. That is you; Arsene never told you those are his desires. He is within his rights to be happy with his team. Who knows his ambition?
If you were the manager and there’s a chance that’s the squad that you’ll be stuck with when the window closes, then you’d be a moron to state in public that you thought the squad was crap. That would be one seriously demoralised squad you’d have to work with until the next window…
would love to see Reiss Nelson in the first team, he really looks like a real deal
Wenger really needs to go.. sorry but I really can not deal anymore and this is the first time me saying that out in the open because it is the same every year. Happy with what strength have we got?… stoke bullied us physically. We need another tall and strong DM and we need and centre half that are leaders and start playing our players in the right positions.. We have not got time to be experimenting. Us going forward is not the problem it is the defensive part. Yes give young talent a chance we got little cups for… Read more »
Stoke did not bully us. We lost because we missed many chances and bad refereeing. I’m not trying to make excuses as we played badly but we were certainly not bullied
we lost cos Danny and friends couldn’t score in a brothel. Alexis would have got 3. Just saying. its only game 3 v Pool but can not lose and be six off pace.
We certainly did not play badly!
And that is the saddest bit, No bullying and Stoke can still take the 3 points. Now the missed chances are a continuation from last season, which is a sign that our Manager learnt nothing and the catalyst for change story was just another story
Each of the last few years we’ve been getting a bit worse. I’m not sure we’ll be competitive for a CL spot and if the contract situation is not resolved, even worse. I don’t think even one or two more signings would resolve the issue – we have no style, no ideas and not much of ambition. We are becoming Liverpoolish…
The thing that is keeping me sane is that being Liverpoolish isn’t actually that bad at the moment.
If we can find a manager that can get us playing a successful brand of football, which potential recruits can see as a draw to come to us, we can easily jump back up the table. Regardless of whether we’re out of the CL for a couple of seasons, our revenue is still going to be massive enough to pay good wages and (potentially) transfer fees.
So wenger think 2 players is enough to close an 18point gap….
It’s not like we’re Bayern Munich or Madrid. But it really feels like we don’t have to be facing this same situation window after window. We just don’t need to. Most clubs have to accept that they will go in under prepared and without the quality they’d like. We seem to behave slowly. Stroll up to Monaco in the evening once everything’s sold out and about-turn when they say the shop’s closed. And then complain about it! We don’t know what really goes on but watching him in the press conferences, I don’t feel the frustration with him about expensive… Read more »
Well don’t expect to see anyone coming in!!!
Delusional and sad
This man is in full troll mode
NO ONE IS COMING IN! But Alexis, OX and Özil will be most likely be leaving (it looks like for free). God take Wenger away from our club!! What a sad state of affairs!
Sadly the old fool won’t do the DECENT thing & retire & the spineless board won’t get rid, so we are as usual, a laughing stock.
Pure fluff
On topic :Let’s evaluate: GKs- Cech, Ospina, Macey? RBs- Bellerin, Ox, (Reiss Nelson maybe) CBs- Koscielny, Mustafi, Holding, Chambers, Mertesacker, 1 cover needed(Monreal maybe) LBs- Kolasinac and Monreal. (Gibbs maybe, if no1 buys him) CDM- Xhaka, Elneny, Coquelin CM- Elneny, Ramsey, Wilshere, (OX maybe) 1 cover needed CAM- Ozil, Wilshere(if fit), Santi :'(, All players have 1 year left. LW- Sanchez, Iwobi, Welbeck(please no) ST- Sanchez, Lacazette, Giroud. Not gonna include welbeck, as he can’t score. RW- Walcott, Welbeck, Ox Arsenal need 1 CB cover, 1 CM. Off topic: a) Last year losing to Arsenal by 3-0, Chelsea wasn’t in… Read more »
Your missing out the main problem -Wenger & his useless tactics etc, as someone said on another thread. Why oh why would you sign on with Wenger again
Different manager and mentality. Conte needs one big loss to realize that his tactic and approach isn’t good enough and change it after that.
Meanwhile Wenger, lost badly against big teams for years and still think his defense is good, needless to say last year when we lost 10-2 against Munich and think it’s a success because we can hold them in the first half.
“…one of the values of this club is to give a chance to youngsters who deserve it…” Laudable, but isn’t that what the lower leagues are for?
The gulf in class between the United and Arsenal squads is huge… minus Fellaini obviously. It is incalculable jus the how inept this transfer window has been. Instead of sorting out the squad during the summer we were selling shirts down under and in China. Naivety, delusion and incompetence…. and I was a big admirer of Wenger. Chasmic difference in ambition and requirement.
That’s odd. I think Man United have two world class players (plus the injured Ibra): De Gea and Pogba.
But they did eventually overwhelm West Ham and Swansea.
Why is the gulf huge ?
Yes, United really do have a second rate squad and a couple of very good players…
“Sometimes you have to share the work in the final day”
In case anyone was wondering why we seem to be so ineffective in the market, here it is.
We have one guy doing all of the transfers and all of the preseason work, and he won’t let anyone touch it until he final day.
Well I think we can safely say there will be no major signings. Any gaps will be filled by youngsters. And hey, I have no problem with that if they were coming into an settled and well established squad that they can learn good habits from. But they’re not. We’re turning into a battery farm for headless chickens ?
Arsene is man with lion heart, his thinking and thoughts are always different from that of fans, we love him as much as we love the club (Arsenal) but he totally refused to put smiles to our faces (Fans) WHY? ARSENE.
Heard it all before every bloody season since the move to the Emirates! ! At the end of every season the club assures us money will be made available for transfers Wenger can get who he wants bar Messi we were told once but as soon as season tickets and memberships are sold we start to hear the excuses and that Wenger says he has the “best” squad he’s ever had ! If we lose badly or ineptly or without any fight at Anfield then we may see more incoming playears but a draw or a win and Wenger will… Read more »
Just put me out of my misery and wake me up in two years time!
In a world where Kyle Walker is “worth” £42m, there is just no way to compete for top talent. Could Arsenal shell out £100m? Sure. But what happens if the player is a bust like Di Maria for Manure? We can’t afford that risk.
Youth development is huge for us. Just look at how Cesc emerged or even Bellerin for a more recent example.
There is hope.
Everyone is taking the same risk to buy these players, every club plays in the same market and only arsene seems to be getting it wrong. Gabriel, Mustafi and Perez all seem not to be the right players for arsene and yet his the one who bought them. Elsewhere, like in Chelsea, Conte seems to know exactly which players he needs. So does Mour or Poch
Stop the nonsense, sign Draxler and Virgil and consider it done. Move the excess weight however you can instead of being a penny pincher. Otherwise I sense this will be another misery filled season.
Another tuff season. From the board to Wenger doesn’t seem like they want to win the league again this season.
Yeah our squad is so strong, that’s why we have already lost to stoke.
In the history of the Premier League, has anyone ever gone through to win without losing a game? I mean, apart from us, obviously. We *have* lots of good players, the issue is that we’re playing them out of position AND that our tactics and style have been “read” by every other team for a decade.
The squad is strong is such a joke. We have lost to stoke before but this was a very average display to say the least.
I guess they must be nielson, maitland niles, holding, chambers. Maybe the jeff when fit. Holding and chambers are still “young”
I dread to think who he might buy
Is that a fly I see there sitting on that pile of crap in front of the club gate..
Can we sign it please, all it needs is a regular supply of steaming hot but not too hot crap…
but the crap needs to be of superior quality and not be the same as any we have coming out now…
Sorry don’t know what I am
Can someone please tell me what happened to “The Jeff” looking like he was going to be a player and now???
I might put a fiver on Joel Campbell getting starts this season at the rate things are going.
Wenger has no intention on bringing in new players . They have the money to buy he brought two players and he said he is happy with there dealings this summer . I’m sorry but we’ll finish 7th this season .