Arsene Wenger has confirmed that he’ll be keeping an eye on the transfer market in January in case he can find a ‘special’ player but played down the necessity to secure further backup to Olivier Giroud.
Playing up the availability of Nicklas Bendtner and Lukas Podolski, the boss was as coy as ever on the matter of new signings when pressed on the subject at his pre-Cardiff media sit down.
“We are on alert in the market if something special turns up but we are not desperate,” confirmed the Frenchman, although he had to again make clear that Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was definitely off the agenda.
“We won’t approach for Suarez. He has signed a contract. We gambled on Sanogo at the start, he has not been fit but Bendtner is back and Podolski is back.”
Having ruled Giroud out of the Cardiff game with an injury, along with a host of others, the boss took a moment to praise his compatriot for the sterling effort he’s put in up front all season long and joked that he’s not surprised the former-Montpellier man is not keen on a new striker.
“Would you expect anything else? We have to give him credit. He has a fantastic combative attitude. We have a great confidence in him.”
In truth aside from a few rumblings about Dimitar Berbatov (if you thought Arshavin was infuriating…), Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa and Real Madrid’s teenager Alvaro Morata there’s been a veritable dearth of nonsense transfer talk.
No doubt that will pick up once the world’s football agents have finished quaffing their New Year’s Eve champagne, but for the moment enjoy the calm before the storm.
Happy New Year I’m re-posting my earlier comment … I believe we can win the league this year, its looking more and more probable. But my analysis side makes me reflect: List of Attackers in leading teams: Man Utd: RVP and Rooney Chelsea: Torres and Eto’o and Ba Man City: Aguero and Dzeko and Negredo Liverpool: Suarez and Sturridge Barcelona: Messi and Neymar Real Madrid: Christiano and Benzema (Bale) Bayen Munich: Robben and Ribery plus more Borussia Dortmund: Lewandowski PSG: Zlatan and Cavani Most of the teams have a big name pair hunting together. They might not always be successful… Read more »
Yes i see what you’re driving at here
It’s Thierry Henry isn’t it?
What are you trying to say? That names or FIFA14 rankings are more important than performance?
We have Giroud, Ramsey, Walcott and Podolski, who have found the back of the net often enough in absolute numbers (Giroud, Ramsey) or in context to the number of games played (Walcott, Podolski).
Also we’re top of the premier league, which in my book makes us a ‘leading team’.
I give a flying fuck about names, I want results. And so far we have had the best in the PL.
We don’t need to buy names if we make them.
To clarify: I’m not against buying players in general (funny thought).
But all this ‘we can’t compete if we don’t have a big name striker’…I don’t buy it.
(–> door)
We are scoring goals. I don’t think a striker is as much a priority as a holding midfielder who can sweep up the mess at the back and distribute quickly. Man Utd have Carrick, Chelsea have Essien, City have the best DM in the world at the moment Yaya Toure, Liverpool have Lucas, Barca have Busquets, Song and Mascherano, Real Madrid have Xabi Alonso, Bayern have Schweinsteiger, Dortmund have Gundogan, PSG have Thiago and others… My point centres around the fact that we have looked very shaky at the back in many games, especially against the bigger teams. This was… Read more »
I didn’t give a solution:
I would like to see Bender bought in.
The goal against United was because we were missing Mertesacker, not anything to do with our midfield. Surely you’re not suggesting that Lucas and Essien are better than Arteta at breaking up play and distributing the ball? Arteta v Liverpool this season was one of the most complete performances I’ve seen from a midfielder, any player on that list would be proud to have put in a shift like that.
Arteta is not world class. He is international class. Truth hurts. My list was in response to the guy mentioning strikers. We are scoring goals. The problem is the defensive aspect of our game. We were rinsed by Man City. Mertesacker wasn’t missing then, was he?! We had nobody to take on Toure, who bulldozed through our defence and Flamini. Flamini looked like a deer in the headlights against Toure, who is a beast. We looked ordinary when Nasri tore our defence to shreds. The point is, we still have not replaced Vieira. I still say a striker is not… Read more »
Personally I’d take Flamini in Arsenal’s deep midfielder role over half of the guys on your list. I don’t really disagree with your overall point, but Wenger does not care for midfielders that defend and don’t bring anything to our passing game, and with good reason.
Xabi Alonso and Matuidi (PSG) have expiring contracts and possibly could be acquired cheaply in January or free on a pre-contract, this is something to keep an eye on.
I’d take Flamini over all the guys in your list except maybe Yaya Toure.
I would take Flamini over half those guys too, but I am trying to make a point that a team’s defensive record is protected by a strong defensive midfielder. The point is, we still need to replace Vieira. If I had a choice between buying a world class striker and a world class box to box midfielder, I would go for the midfielder.
Arteta is twice the player Essien is, and Flamini doesn’t do a bad job either.
Not to mention Welsh Jesus and the way that Wilshere hustled the best midfield ever ™ out of the game two years ago…I wouldn’t object to someone coming in be because both Flamini and Arteta are getting on but they do as good, if not better, than most of the names on your list.
Barca have Busquets, Song and Mascherano. We had song he chose to go warm another teams bench for a few years. More fool him. Carrick, Essien and Lucas do me a favour we have better players than them.
Yaya toure? He doesn’t even try yo be a defensive midfielder. If a player goes near him then hes capable of winning the ball but he’s far from being defensively aware. He only impacts on tbe game as he gets closer to the opposition goal.
Obviously we’d love a toure or a shweinsteiger, who wouldn’t? But a super star striker would be even more welcome, especially in the big games were it often seems to come down to one moment of brilliance by a world class striker. Unfortunately there are probably none of either category available so we’ll just have to see what we can achieve with the current squad right? COYG!
Giroud is important not because of goals but the way we play. We are quite dependent on him and Wenger is not taking too many chances with bredtner upfront. Hopefully that will change in forthcoming months.
But he does score goals anyway so wheeeeee
Wenger himself said that he would like to give giroud a rest, but because he is too integral to the way we play, h is frcd to play,. So, I think, if we are gonna buy a new striker, it would probably some on who does what exactly giroud does, buytas second dchoicto him, instead of someone who brings “something different”, because we have already got such strikers in podolski and Walcott.
Why tease us so, we all know it’s not going to happen 😀
We all think it’s unlikely to happen.
But we don’t ‘know’ anything.
If we win the league I’ll get on the pitch! Who is with me?
Tim Sherwood.
You have my sword!
And my axe
and your father’s ears.
Can’t wait to be pleasantly surprised by another ‘top signing’ but till then weldone to our current squad. They have shut up a few pundits who have nothing better to do than prophesy doom and gloom for the arsenal. Happy new year to all gunners.
Jeffers confirmed
We’re winning the league!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Agree with Arif – just not sure we can get the type of striker we need in Jan window. Fingers crossed….
Have to bring in a striker Arsene. Once you get past Giroud then our depth in that department in terms of quality is thoroughly exposed. A WC striker will be hard right now, all we need is a quick fix so that when giroud is out injured or rested we can always shuffle and bring in that quick fix without having our hearts in our mouth as we prepare for a £32 diego costa bid in the summer.
*£32M
Even by Wenger standard, £32 seems a bit stingy! haha!
Are we sure Diego Costa is good, let alone £32m good? I mean, he’s a strong dude, and looks the part for the Premier League, but the last guy that was bought because he scored lots of goals in Spain was Soldado (HAHAHAHAHA) and Costa has scored with better creative players behind him.
The difference is that Soldado thrived on sitters and tap-ins while at Valencia, while Costa is completely different. It’s unlikely that we get him, though
arsenal can win the league but still we need a class striker
Berbatov? I would be surprised.
Falcao or Pato.
In Arsenene we trust, he’ll make the right decision and who knows we might get a surprise signing.
Here’s to a top 2014!!
I truly agreed with Arif that Gunners need a world class striking duo to compete that give them more variation of playing 2 Strikers sometimes and most of the time with 1 forward and 5 midfielders (flooding with talents). I think a bargain call will be Mitroglou who is scoring for fun now. A strong physical players that is suitable for all out attack like a poacher! Second I would love to see another french partner Benzema to join Giroud so they can communicate in french so opponent defenders don’t understand. But highly unlikely signing. Next, Alexandre Pato looks good… Read more »
Why do you think we need a striking duo when we play with only one striker? Our wingers score more goals than our striker, and our striker’s job is to set up goals for our wingers!
We don’t need to spend ANY money this January. We just need our players to be uninjured and fit.
Yes AW. In the summer you could transfer other guys. World is not about only one guy with Suarez Name. I think last summer was best time to buy best striker but you wait wait wait wait and wait and in last hour you did Ozil without any striker. i don’t know if we didn’t buy Ozil, what we supposed to do to this season.
Did you read this before you posted it? Inane drivel. We tried to get strikers, we didn’t, end of story. Yes we only ended up with a world class midfielder, who at 24 is only going to get better… oh woe is me.
25, sorry
Luuk de Jong from Borussia Möechengladbach might be a good choice… Dutch International… Not cup-tied in the CL… could be worth with a snip…
Record signing that has ended up struggling behind Max Kruse. Star in Holland average in Germany. Reckon a failure in Premier League.
Said it quite a few times now, Julian Draxler. Optimistic I know, but the quality, age and position is spot on for Arsenal now.
He’s naturally a no.10 but can also play left wing. We are well stocked in this department (CAM: Ozil, Rosicky, Cazorla. LW: Podolski, Chamberlain, Cazorla). As talented as Draxler is, he’s not what we need.
Our best strikers over the years were wingers themselves though. Draxler has great control, bags of skill, a good shot, two good feet and physique which makes me think he can easily be moulded into a striker. His ability to play many positions and his age only means HFB will still be our main striker with Draxler being eased in.
I thought that might be your point. I know Tezza was converted from winger to striker but that doesn’t mean it will work every time. It would be an expensive risk if it didn’t work out. What the squad needs is somebody that will come in straight away and will score goals, and I don’t agree with people saying we need ‘cover’ for Giroud. As much as I like him, we need better than Giroud. Somebody who will push Giroud for his starting place and create healthy competition.
But we need a striker- a prolific goal scorer, now
Why are people obsessed with prolific goalscorer’s, as long as our 11 players score more than the opposition in a match that’s all that matters.
What Igor said! There seems to be a fixation on wanting some magical goalscoring phenomonen to be signed, who will score twice as many goals as Suarez. WHY?? Last time I looked we were leading the league. We HAVE the squad. We can win the league with what we’ve got. Even with Giroud hurt for a couple of games, we’ve got Podolski and Walcott scoring goals. And even Bendtner has been decent in the few minutes he’s had.
Relax, folks, no-one needs to panic. We’re pretty damned good the way we are!
What about chicarito? Is he cup tied for the cl? I’d be happy with benteke or Remy as well.
Podolski is better than Hernandez. We need a higher class striker, no point in just adding to the squad. I want to see strengthening. That means looking above Giroud class. But as I have mentioned before, I feel the priority is a box to box/defensive midfielder. Flamini is okay as is Arteta, but we don’t have anyone who makes me feel at ease when a decent side has the ball in our half. I suggest Lars Bender. If we go for a striker, obviously Suarez is not a possibility, at least not in the near future. If we can go… Read more »
You talk about buying players as if you are playing FIFA
this makes sense to me. Against lesser team, our midfielders dominate the middle of the park. So we feel good and look secure. However, against some big teams, we struggle to win the middle third due to: a) too short; b) not enough pace; or both a) and b). There are plenty of ways to tweak a squad, especially with one full of versatile players like ours. Giroud is important to the team because not only of his attacking focal role but also his defending at set pieces. Furthermore, with a short and small midfield, against team with tall players… Read more »
My personal interpretation of Giroud’s comment that we don’t need another striker is that he realises that it will be very difficult to get a good striker in this transfer window, and so he’s looking on the bright side by saying we already have enough quality players. Well, that’s just a guess, of course. I tend to agree with the handsome bastard. We’re half way through the league and we’re top of the table, even though several of our attacking players have missed a lot of games altogether: Walcott, Podolski, Cazorla, Chambo have plenty of goals between them. Of course… Read more »
Very unlikely we’ll sign a striker, unless it’s on loan. World class strikers are going to be hesitant moving with the World Cup looming and most are at clubs fighting in the Champions League, who have no reason to sell. It would take special circumstances and upwards of £40m to prise any of them away and I seriously doubt Wenger will splash that kind of money again so soon after Ozil. I think the best we can hope for is a loan and pray Giroud stays fit and becomes more clinical. Right that’s what my logical mind is saying now… Read more »
I think Podolski is a good back up to Giroud, particularly for the rest of the season, and (I surprise myself to say this, but…) I think Bendtner does alright too. The only player link I’ve enjoyed for this window has been Diego Costa, but in my opinion I would rather we sign him next summer when, you know, we can use him the Champions League. Also, as well as we’re doing, I think people forget we’re still going through our team rebuilding patch. We didn’t get to let go of a couple of our players and we have the… Read more »
Don’t get your hopes up.
I’ll eat my shoe if we sign anyone of note.
Please define ‘anyone of note’?
Ffa sign remy
He couldn’t even score a header from point-blank range – useless! 😉
If the release clause for Diego Costa is there then they have to accept it and he will come to Arsenal. We just need to put the bid in. I’m open to debate but to me it seems simplistic.
It’s almost like the player has no say in whether he leaves a club or not….. While we can activate the release clause, we do have to get Diego to sign a contract and he can say no.
I’m aware of that, but I don’t think he would say no to us. At the moment I don’t think there are many players that wouldn’t join us if we had a bid accepted for them.
He is in is team that is pushing Real and Barca all the way in La liga, the first team to qualify for the knock out stages in CL and touted as being this years dark horses. I think no will be the default answer.
Draxler is the best authenticated story I think, but not in January.
“Special” signing doesn’t necessarily mean a great player for Arsenal. Look at Gizmo! Sorry I mean Özil, you can tell by his body language he clearly doesn’t want to be here hence he’s under performing!
Has he been playing in the premier league for years and only just joined us or has he been playing in different leagues, in different countries, with different styles and now he has to settle and get used to the premier league style of quick play?
Should we mind the gap between your ears?
leave the poor spud alone, he is venting his anger at Bale being sold allowing us to get Ozil
Ozil is by far the best player on the team, one of the best in the world, and he shows it every single game. People think he is underwhelming or disappears or “had a quiet night” hecause they want to see a Fabregas type player who dominates the ball but Ozil plays a different way, the German way, like bayern or their last world cup team. Faster one touch football. He leads the league in assists in his first premiership season with no preseason to get used to his teammates. It’s a bit harsh to say this but honestly the… Read more »
Fucking rude and make no sense. How old are you?
However old he is, I think in this case age is greater than IQ.
He is a terrible tease. He’s done this before, talked about only wanting super, super quality. I can’t see us buying anyone. If we actively target a back-up for Giroud we are going to swap Bendtner for another Bendtner. If we want someone to properly compete with Giroud we need to look in the £20mil-£25mil bracket. If we want to replace Giroud we need to be looking at £30mil plus. Just can’t see us spending the money.
Özil has repeatedly said to the public that ‘not a single decision was regretted’ and that being at arsenal is a dream, I’m not sure you are that knowledgeable abt this, ‘mind the gap jokes’ guy, and if you are trolling, it really isn’t needed.
Wtf do we call you?
You’re clearly mistaking Gremlins 2 for game of football there boy.
Klose please.
Sanago. That worked out well.
He’s done pretty much what you’d expect a very young player to do in his first season without a ‘pre-season’.
we are one or two pieces away from being a very dominant force, which is promising. in the mean time this squad could hardly be doing better, 38 games played in 2013 – top of that league, top of this seasons league, still to play our best football.
good times.
Wait, no mention of Huntelaar yet?
Aren’t we signing him in the summer along with Frey, Samba and Jagielka? The new magic quartet….
Yes, and Messi, Ronaldo, Ribery, Gotze, and Pele, too. But they won’t be enough. We so desperately need to buy 25 new players. We need to spend at least infinity billion pounds, if not more.
I heard Bendtner was waving goodbye to the away fans at the Newcastle game? Is he leaving? In which case will we have to rely on Yaya? I’m not too sure of his capability but at least making a song for him will be easy.
Omfg what is it with wenger and Bentdner?? Wat is it he can see in him that we can’t and why does wenger still think we have enough depth in our squad that we don’t need any new signings?! He is the only one in the world that must think that!! Arghhh so frustrating!!!
What do you expect him to say?
‘Bendtner’s shit so we need someone else’ and then see all the available strikers prices double over night!!!!
To hell with all the big names
If anything we need to secure the rb spot with a sagna contact I hope and get a striker. I know this sounds crazy but hear me out. If there is any truth about Falcao not being happy at Monaco, we should at least put out feelers. You want a special talent, not cup tied, whose still young enough to secure our front line for at least five or six years while we restack our youth team? Can play in cl now for him, won’t have to wait until next year and he has a chance to win the bpl… Read more »
I like him.. I like his size, his speed, his technique.. but, I remember reading something about Falcao’s ridiculous salary. Ive seen quotes near 450k / week. That is INSANITY.
plus he is 29
I don’t think he’s on wages that high but I’m not sure. Capello came out today and said falcao would be more likely to move than higuian
Because of the low tax in Monaco he would need to be paid a silly amount like that gross, to give him a similar net (after tax).
(I’m not saying 450k is correct, just that he moved for money and we will not compete for a money grabber).
I hear Balotelli might be available this January. What do you guys think? He has the ability, but are his disciplinary issues too much of a risk?
If we are serious about going for the CL this season and want a non cup tied super star striker, then only Suarez and Flacao would fit that bill. However if the BPL is our main target then being cup tied should not be an issue. Rooney or Dzeko. However, the most realistic options are probably Berbatov, Benteke or Remy.
Why would he leave AC, his childhood dream team?
Obafemi Martins!
Lol, I always liked him. Saw him score a few amazing goals.
Bendtner is probably as world class as is available.
On the other hand, AW denied interest in Suiarez, a sure sign we’re planning a bid. Maybe his new contract has a proper release clause?
🙂
According to the papers his buy out is £120m, so no one will be buying him… except maybe Real M, as they have very low standards off the field.
Balotelli!!!!
If we re-sign Nelson vivas and Christopher wreh, we have a huge chance at the league title.
Well, Wenger certainly did “surprise” us last transfer window with a “special” player, maybe he will do it again…..
We should have whacked £50 million quid on the table for Saurez, by now we’d be dancing in streets, knowing the title would be coming home…£40 million.+ £1, i mean Ffs..
If the buy out is £40m then £40,000,001 is more than the required price.
But then it turned out that his agent hadn’t been truthful, so AW lost interest.
Next time you go shopping, try offering the shop assistant more money than the price on the package.
You’ll get the item but you’ll be an idiot!
Gnabry up front?
Henry & RVP were wingers to start with
That’s an interesting thought. He’s certainly got the tools – pace, strength, skill on the ball, hard shot, some finesse when required. That’s an experiment I’d like to see, but not until the C1C matches next season.
Wow a record thumbs down for me. Get in!!!!!
Emile Heskey. Sign that ting!
There should be a Bagayoko or Traore or Sissoko somewhere, but then I remember we have Sanogo.
Has anyone thought about Giuseppe Rossi? I think he’s on top of the scorers charts in Serie A (15 goals in 18 or something like that), he’s got a really high pass percentage (83% according to whoscored.com), and, perhaps most importantly, is not CL cup tied. I’m getting into silly season mode, but I can’t help but feel he’d be a good fit for us…
I think it will be difficult to sign a striker on three counts : 1) It is a world cup year and most players/agents worth their salt will play a waiting game if possible till the summer before making a move. 2) There are a number of well heeled clubs in the hunt for a striker in addition to us. 3) There aren’t that many top level strikers available at the moment, particularly those who offer something different from Giroud. Add to that the fact that Bendtner for all his faults has done a decent job in the limited time… Read more »
Costa – IF Atheletico put him on market, our competitiveness for his signature will depend on how others move (Chelsea, Real).
If left on the shelf with say Dortmund as a competitor, we may stand some chance in getting him (if we put up enough which we may have an edge over the Germans). But it is a big risk as it could be another Suarez situation with Atheletico dragging things or he may go to the Germans as a personal preference.
Dortmund would probably only move on him if they move lewendowski this window which hopefully would mean we can get him on the cheap.
I really can’t see Athletico letting Costa go during their best season for some years. Why would he want to move in a WC year when it could effect his ‘call up’ and a good WC could add to his value.
Lewandowski has his heart set on Bayern and I can’t see money changing that (or it would have happened already).
Amazing to see some still harping about the need for a ‘DM’ with Arteta and Flamini performing superbly this season. They also seem to forget we have Diaby coming back. LANSA.:D I think there will be some concern with the spare keeper spot and this is certainly going to be difficult to sort as no one likes to be benched behind Szsc and Fabianski. certainly an older keeper (Dudek was making some complimentary noises toward us recently) could be a good short term solution. The other area is of course CBack. I think we have just about sufficient at the… Read more »