Arsene Wenger says he’s struggling to find the right player as he strives to bring in a new defender before the transfer window opens, but admits it would be too risky not to make a signing due to the injury situation.
In the last few days the Arsenal manager has reiterated his desire to make a defensive signing, but so far enquiries made have been rebuffed as clubs don’t want to lose key players mid-season.
“Of course we have made enquiries,” he said, “and then you have a second handicap of who wants to sell their best players, especially a central defender, in the middle of the season?
“They say: ‘OK, come back in June or July and maybe yes.’ It’s not a supermarket where you go in and buy a defender, it’s a market that is very restricted, that players who can strengthen the best 10 teams in Europe, you don’t find many and it’s the same for everybody.
“We are a big attraction, of course we are, but if it was easy we would do it.”
He went on to stress the need for a new face, saying, “We have now lost Debuchy, who could play centre-back, Monreal, who can play centre-back, Gibbs as well has been out, of course if we have another injury or two we will struggle.
“It’s risky. It’s too risky.”
Risky business all right. Now you’re picturing Tom Cruise in his underpants.
You’re welcome!
Knowing Wenger, he’ll roll the dice on the risk. Blogs – what is it you say about Wenger when he gambles?
the thing is we have 2 1st choice cbs and with chambers going to be another (bellerin, debuchy and carl comin back for rb position) we’d need just one more there for the next season and with our german ent in his decline the new cb oughta be a decent one, can we do it in January? dont think so, and as far as we are no man city we cant efford to buy a so-so one now or else we’d never buy the decent one anytime soon. wenger knows he would never let that so-so guy down! it was… Read more »
Really missing TV5 the Verminator right about these last few weeks, has anyone seem him playing consistently at Barca?? Yes of course he should not have let him leave without another solid CB to bring in at least in mind…man, and those venomous volleys back when we could consistently fire in a decent corner! With 6’6 Per needs to be getting more chances on corners for fucks sake miss the bosscielny TV5 threat we don’t have on corners anymore…ya know kick back a few of those shit defended set piece goals we’ve given up in recent days… But I’m sensing… Read more »
TV hasn’t played 1 game and had a surgery and will play hopefully next season
This man needs to be managed, he is not doing very well in transfer terms for the last 5 years and he is too stubborn to admit. It’s also so obvious, he has no clue what is going on or how the transfer market works. I don’t only blame him, I blame our amateurish board and disinterested only money making machine owner in leaving this man deal with transfers while he is has no clue. I know, I know you will give me Ozil and Alexes, but for every one of them we have missed up 10 players transfer for… Read more »
In my opinion we dont need to just buy, but also do abit of selling. To many sub par players not good enough for this level. Alexis came from a club where he was considered surplus to requirements and sold, to our club where he is walking on water, idolized and by far our best player carrying the whole club on his shoulders. That pretty much says it all about our squad compared to other top teams when a player purposely sold by another top club is miles better than anyone at our club. What we see now with Alexis… Read more »
Sanchez would be the best player in 99.9% of any other clubs!
Alexis will decide to move if we keep getting fourth and just qualify for the CL. Like all others when they knew the aim of the, manager, club and the owner is JUST to qualify for CL and not wining the dam thing they just leave.
We will call him all those names and it will be alright.
Juventus decided to sell Henry too.
Just because a club doesn’t want a player does not make him shit, or any less good. You need to consider whether the club, the league, the staff etc. brings the best out of a player.
It still remains to be seen whether Suarez > Sanchez + Fabregas. Someone could lose their job over how it pans out.
Well Barca sold Fabregas the guy who was the sole carrier of their “DNA” and he’s being carrying them in some matches.ATHletico Madrid sold Costa, whose goals are the reason chelsea is top of the league. guess their squad was useless before those two came in. some people don’t even see the glass half empty they see no glass atall
I pretty much agree with you. I am no Wenger out proponent but this is not the service you expect from the most experienced manager in the league. How come lower and less rich clubs have better defence and backup and we do not ? And it is the same market for all.
“It’s not a supermarket where you go in and buy a defender”
No Arsene, it’s not. But you do make it seem like rocket science.
It was risky in August, now it’s just stupid.
perfectly said. I love Wenger, but the whole world could see what was missing. We got lucky last year in that KOS and PER didn’t get injured too much. Plus Sagna was reliable and a true cover at CB unlike Debuchy and Monreal who seem a little out of their depth at that position.
Tough day, absolutely everyone around us got maximum points.
Spot on. There aren’t many top class centrebacks available now. I’d love to have Iñigo Martinez, but he may be too pricey.
Well if we can afford 40 million on Ozil and similar on Alexis then we should be spending the same on a defender as surely that is more important.
He should have bought in August so its his own fault if he is now saying no one sells in January. Also pretty sure they will sell but we just might have to pay some January tax.
Balls
Do we pay the scouts in between windows or do they just go on holiday?
They are part time scouts to cut coast. And to think it is Jan and we are have not identified our targets and the manager just realised we have a weakness is laughable lol.
Well run club.
“Finding” a player is not just about scouts, surely.
A scout can help identify good players, but the process of negotiating with the club and player, agreeing on price etc. is beyond the scout’s duty, one would imagine.
Oooh fuck. If Wenger thinks its risky too, we truely are fucked
Then why did you only bring in Chambers then when you had the chance to buy another defender in the summer? He knew when Vermaelen left the club a few injuries would make the defence weak. Chambers was a very nice surprise, but we all saw the defence when Kos got injured. Still good that he admits he needs new defenders. Maybe next summer Wenger will finally have a chance to be serious contenders for champions. For now? Let’s hope some good players will come this winter, because it will be hard indeed to lure away big players. I hope… Read more »
To be honest, it was risky even when we didn’t sign a defender in Summer. We could have been challenging for the top rather than top 4. Anyway, getting one now will bode well for rest of the season and seasons ahead.
I don’t like to go down the ‘Football Manager’ route, but might this not be the time to simply get the chequebook out and, I don’t know, write a check for a fuckload of money? Football clubs like their good players, sure, but most like money more. Might this not be an occasion where money talks? If Arsenal have to pay over the odds, so be it. Should have bought when we had the chance.
*cheque. Spelling does matter, I’m a fucking English teacher.
in the states, it’s check and checkbook, have to admit cheque and chequebook just look better. Hope Arsene opens one or the other toot de suite.
Alas, while my American cousins do have more sensible spellings, I’m still in the Old World. Correct spelling and grammar is about all I have left…
Don’t sell yourself short. You seem perfect to play this role too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5posU08HjXg#t=85
And a faint hope that all will really turn out well. That we will lift the Champions league and F.A. cups and go on to take the premiership title again in the not too distant future. The entire Orcs first eleven will test positive for rabies, Maureen will be arrested for interfering with hamsters and the Sky commentating team will contract a mixture of diarrhoea and hiccups. Oh well what do they say “those the Gods wish to destroy, they first make mad”?
Ha Ha Ha!
If its a case of buying a cheap option now who may just be cover or buying a top quality player in the summer who can challenge the bfg and kos then ide rather wait. Or we could be stuck with a decent defender who doesn’t really add to much other than just being a squad player. The mistake was made in the summer everyone knows that. We may still win the FA cup but for me the league is write off again and has been almost from the start. Fourth place was and never will be enough for club… Read more »
Closes*
And the Lord said let there be light
Well its YOUR fault MR WENGER and no one else. You had ample amount of time to sign a defender during the summer.
No reason to down vote this, it’s the truth.
Can everyone please bang on and on and on and on and on and on about us not buying a defender in the fucking Summer because I just haven’t heard enough of it yet!!!!!
Paul – We get that arsenlickers like you won’t want to hear it but it’s a valid point and very relevant to the discussion.
I am not an “Arsenlicker” mate, just bored of everyone repeating the blooming obvious!
and by the thumbs scores of 10 vs 2, I assume the “we” you talk of, is you and your mate? 🙂
Rim away paul, rim away
Guess the truth hurts…
This is pretty out of character for Wenger. Why come out and tell everyone how desperate we really are? I can only imagine this inflating the price of whoever we’re looking at…
Really don’t understand this comment, as if the whole world doesn’t know we’re short of defenders
Yes it is strange that Wenger should say it so forcefully – maybe the deal has been done! Here’s hoping…
He’s clearly responding to specific question to which he could hardly come out and say whilst remaining credible that we don’t need another defender could he?
It doesn’t effect the price because as Arsene himself so proudly states, we’ve been in the champions league for 18 years running and one of the biggest, most written about football clubs in the world. As such we’re going to be charged a premium whomever we go after unless the selling club isn’t actively try to sell.
Only realised what we fans have been screaming about since last summer Mr Wenger? Really?
When I think of Wenger signing a defender I think of players like Stepenovs, Cygan, Squillaci, Senderos (although, he had ‘alright’ moments). The hilarious thing is, Cygan is an ‘invincible’. Chances are, we’ll get a 19 year old defender, who’ll get injured in the 87th minute (after coming off the bench at the 81st minute) by a player, on loan from another club (who’ll then fade to obscurity) and he’ll be out till next season, only for him to get a ‘set back’, putting him out for a further three months. A year after said injury, he’ll come back and… Read more »
I think he said… “Mrs Ferguson is ugly, I rather my Annie”
So you became cyclical in 2006 two years after we’d gone 49 games unbeaten, one year after we’d won the fa cup and just when we’d got to a CL final? Seems kinda short termist…
Tom cruises teeth in that film are nearly as scary as not getting in more defensive cover
One or two injuries from struggling? We are struggling as it is, we have 5 “fit” defenders, one of them has a chronic ankle problem that could sideline him at any time for any period of time, and two others are not even 20. At this rate Wenger and Bould will have to join the back four by April.
How come he didn’t buy a defender in the summer then? When It was obvious we were going to be short. No one else to blame but himself
Money talks #lookatmanshitty
What the fuck do our scouts do? Do we only ever look for players in August and January? You’d have thought he would have learnt the lesson back in August and yet here we are again.
Honestly that randomated response gets tiring every January. Maybe if you got back to the club’s in june/ July like they said too, we wouldn’t need to be in this position.
No one else’s fault but his own we are short on defenders. Maybe this polish kid can play centre half
true we need a defender, not discounting that whatsoever, but please drop the vermaelen shit. he was shit, he’s been injured since before he was sold, and he’s shelved for the season. we made out on that deal with Barca.
I agree with the point you make, but quite literally not one person has mentioned TM5 so im not really surewho ur comment is aimed at
We should have got that bloke that went to Roma.
Everyone says we needed one during the last window when in truth, we’ve needed one for the last 3 windows.
Do I really don’t wanna hear about how its tough to sign in Jan. He had two summers and a winter window to do so.
This seems obvious to me as well. This idea we only need a signing because of recent injuries, and not because that’s a position in the squad that could always be, i don’t know what, upgraded maybe? Baffling.
the vermaelen sh*t you speak of… yes he was bad/injured a lot, we needed a replacement for his role even during his stay here, were fortunate that Koscielny (huge gamble at the time) became a beast, but in a strange gamble we then didn’t upgrade that position in the squad when Vermaelen left, great deal that it was, and instead we hamstrung ourselves in a post-World Cup season knowing injuries would be a factor and that our competition was improving all the time. No-one’s asking the club to issue a press release explaining that decision or a few others, but… Read more »
Wenger brings in his Coq to help us out after a loan spell – Worked out quite well. IMO even better than the supposedly best CDM ‘Matic’.
Wenger secures Bielik with the help of Dick Law. Looking good.
All Wenger has to do now is secure Virgil Van Dijk and we have a very brilliant squad.
Your insane if you think coq is better than matic
I have three things to say to you:
– We judge players not on their past but how they’re currently performing.
– Of the six games le Coq has played, we have won 5 of them because of him.
– Go watch him on youtube for the past couple of months, then come back to me after we win the city game.
I must say, the guy gives me boners week in week out(no homo)
Yeah, we never would have beat Stoke, Hull and QPR without Coquelin. Muppet.
Exactly what I’m saying, you d*ickwipe. We certainly would have conceded a lot of goals if he hadn’t come back from Charlton. Not only can you see how good he really has been, stats say it all.
http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/17/stats-show-arsenal-kid-francis-coquelin-is-much-better-than-chelseas-nemanja-matic-5026024/
He’s been more a figure than Matic so far this season mate. He’s only played the last 6 games, 5 of them won because of him. Go check him out on YouTube, plenty of highlights in the past couple of months. Keep an eye for him tomorrow, then come back to me after we win the city game thanks to a solid defence (guarantee it). BTW, don’t judge players on their past but predominantly on their present performances instead.
‘Deluded’
#Coq in!
Wow!
I think seeing Falcao in the premier league all but put a stop to anyone ever trusting youtube clips ever again
Falcao was in a shit league with wack defenders. He will soon start scoring, just been unlucky I suppose.
Igor stepanovs can look good on YouTube
Coq is good and has played well but I’m afraid your as deluded as aw if you think we have anyone half as good as matic for the position
I think you are being a bit…………. hard-on Coq!
Sorry I just had to say that when I thought of it! 🙂
Thumbs down????!!!
“Hard-on Coq” comedy genius imho!
I’ll get my coat…
Abzey, you should have gone to specsavers.
Another pair of glasses on top of my current ones? No thanks.
You must be high on crack if you REALLY believe Coq is better than matic. It’s like saying Giroud is better than aguero because he played better in our last match.
FML
Little bit short at the back
And sides? Long on the top?
A shame that be didn’t realise our defensive issues at the end of last season. You would have thought that selling our captain, a CB, would have been the catalyst to buying some real class at the back…
Unfortunately, the chances of buying anyone who’s world class is little to none.
Shouldnt he have realized all this in tbe summer that we had inadequate defensive cover Now his statement is more of a revelation to himself than anyone else. This is not the time when teams that are doing well are willing to part with their best or in form players so we are actually scraping the bottom of the barrel bringing in a young untried defensive mid into one of the fastest paced leagues out there hoping he will suffice is the way Arsenal is being run these days on a hope and a prayer .
Stay calm, peoples. Wenger likes living on the edge.
We’ve only had months to identify who we want and line up the deal. But no he procratinates over the value dithers and delays and says how hard it is. That’s your job! There are players out there but sadly not many willing to deal for a few coins and a broken bucket
Enough of the excuses!
I thought the boss has Ajayi and Hayden in his youth team. But he has never start them despite his including Ajayi in his first team subs, but sat him on the bench through out. Good players are not made by sitting them on the bench always but made in action. Are the duo not good for the first team action? Must we go out to buy the material we have in our backyards?
They’ve both been injured when we really needed them.
I thought the boss has Ajayi and Hayden in his youth team. But he has never start them despite his including Ajayi in his first team subs, but sat him on the bench throughout. Good players are not made by sitting them on the bench always but made in action. Are the duo not good for the first team action? Must we go out to buy the material we have in our backyards?
They’ve both been injured when we really needed them.
Why couldn’t he have gone for Nastachic at City? We’re no threat to them….they might have done business.
For those of you that like this sort of speculation, Andrea Ranocchia’s contract is expiring at the end of this season (he plays for Inter).
It amazes me when I see fans here upset that Wenger has ‘only just realised’ we needa defender. We were attempting to sign defenders in the last window. The only difference now is for some unusual reason Wenger is openly talking about it. I can’t think of a time when he’s been as transparent about his targets and circumstances… That said, wish he picked and went forward with a decision in the summer. May have to overpay now. Just hope we get someone suitable to the team style as well as the quality, considering the smaller pool of options and… Read more »
Ofcourse its obvious we’ve needed someone since the summer. Its was stupid to start the season with 2 first team centre backs. However we all know wenger and how he operates in the January trasnfer window so we can’t expect much. But with all the injuries in defence I do not feel confident with just monreal as back up for all 3 comps. Its most likely we will get Red on a budget deal, or maybe Hector Moreno as the papers are reporting today.lets just hope those ‘1 or 2 defensive transfers’ don’t just consist of Bielik!!
Bring back Carl Jenkinson this January, play him on the right and have Chambers as cover for CB/CDM. We can sail through to summer. But have no excuses in June. COYG
Not possible. He’s on a season long loan which doesn’t have the option to recall (someone posted the FA rules on here which said this). You can only recall on short loans (Like Coq, where they can be renewed every month/3 months or so), or GKs. or to sell a player (but not to play them).
How about getting Sagna on loan? City aren’t particularly using him. In fact with the Bony signing, Sagna might get kicked out of their CL squad. After selling a dozen players to them relations must surely be great between the two clubs!!
maybe he should take a chance and look at players outside of europe like africa and asia. Who knows he might unearth the next gem.
All the top clubs have stopped gambling on African players because of the ACN. They only buy the very best African players, preferably at a discount price to make up for them disappearing for a month+ every 2 years at a very important part of the season. When the ACN becomes a 4 year deal then things may change, but the risk to the players and team every 2 years is too big a risk (Kolo was never the same after picking up Malaria at an ACN and we were luck to get $ity to pay big bucks for him).… Read more »
Or he could just recall Jenko.
Zero risk.
Don’t mention it.
claused
really? doesn’t it state that clubs can only recall players on 1 year loans during the transfer window.
We are in the transfer window.
If they’re on a 1 year loan then they can only come back to be sold on. Not to play for us. The window is irrelevant.
If clubs are saying come back in June, why the hell you are going for them in January and not last June. Amateurish really.
We aren’t signing a defender and this is the year where we’ll lose out on a top four spot. Alexis will move in the summer to a more cashed up club which offers Champions League football. You know I’m right, and you heard it here first.
Surely arsenal have enough money to buy any defender they want we need world-class not just anyone
Another way of saying “we’re working very hard.” Which I don’t doubt but that doesn’t make it feel better.
Aware it’s only one game but I thought Hayden was exceptional against Southampton in the Mickey Mouse cup. We lost that game because Rosicky gave away a stupid penalty, Clyne scored a screamer out of nowhere and Podolski was busy hash tagging stuff up front. Southampton, who are above us in the league remember, had their best team out and Hayden looked assured all evening. We need someone World Class to seriously challenge Mertesacker and cover for Koscielny’s dodgy tendons but I agree with some of the comments and Wenger: we don’t need to be paying over the odds for… Read more »
Nice to see anyone neighing up our players getting the thumbs down.
Or rather it’s tiresome.
maybe we should go for Nastachic (sp?) at city or Reid at west ham?
he will bring back squillaci
Wenger knows he will not get a defender this Jan. Him coming out like this is just an excuse for a mess he got himself. He’s a great coach, but he needs to allow others to participate in transfer protocols.
Remember the time when we had Adams, Bould, Keown and Linnegan.
We needed four at the time because two were often suspended for wiping out centre forwards!
Happy times….
(morrow?) And because we didn’t have cover for either FB.
Four centre backs I was referring to and the fact that they were proper hard men!
They were indeed, although I’m not sure they’d be much use in the PL now.