Theo Jensen
First thing's first: all frustrated fans should watch this video.
The changes Arsenal have needed to make this summer through the transfer market have been obvious to both fans and pundits alike. But when Wenger claimed he would be 'very active' during this window I found it difficult to get excited. I suspected, as we will probably see, that he would target the two most apparent areas for concern - the need for a central defender and forward – partners for Vermaelen and Robin Van Persie respectively. In so doing however, I couldn't imagine him spending much or going much further beyond those areas. The implication is that his philosophy will remain fundamentally operational, and you know what that means...
The club's most prominent issue regards the potential moves of Nasri and Fabregas. You may have been as incredulous as myself when you heard Wenger say he'd let Nasri's contract run down - this would be equivalent to paying £20 million for a one year deal involving (as good as) a publicly unenthusiastic player. I can only think that Wenger could wish in stating this to put rival clubs off bidding thereby allowing greater bargaining power over the issue of wages, or he wishes to gamble on us winning a trophy this year and in so doing convince Nasri (and perhaps Fabregas) to stay.
The latter option would be poorly conceived however. With only minor squad changes the onus would fall largely on two despondent players. Would it even matter if we lost Nasri now? He showed six months of impressive form from the beginning of last season, but has rarely excelled in the big games. Personally I'd prefer a willing replacement.
There is an almost unanimous desire amongst fans to see the sale of the deadwood: Denilson, Bendtner, Arshavin, Eboue, Vela, Diaby, Squillaci, Almunia and Rosicky. Bringing in the likes of: Baines, Hazard, Mata, Cahill, Samba and a back up for Shezzers. As many have noted however, we can't sell the deadwood easily or at all because their wages are ill-founded to say the least.
So what is to be done? Clearly Gervinho has the potential to be successful. He has good pace, skill and positioning which will help especially in those matches where teams park the bus in their third of the pitch. But given how injury-prone Robin van Persie is, I think it would be beneficial to buy a quality striker based on a calculation where he does not feature. We can't rely on Gervinho and Chamakh to win us trophies if Van Persie picks up a lengthy injury. Therefore, a replacement worth £15-20 million should be brought in (Lukaku? Rodallega?)
Clearly Fabregas is exceptional, but he could be replaced with a central midfielder worth roughly £30 million (Melo? Hamsik?) and swapped for Maxwell. The following plan could be feasible: sell Fabregas [£35m], Nasri [£20m], Bendtner [£9m], Vela [£6m], Clichy [£7m] and buy Maxwell [free], Gary Cahill [£18m], Gervinho [£11m], Central Midfielder [£30m], Striker [£15-20m] and Mata [21m]
The obvious flaw here is that the wage bill would swell substantially. We could however sell some of the deadwood at heavily-reduced prices and loan the remainder without contract-renewal to mitigate the costs. I appreciate that Wenger has had to stick to a long term financial plan but you have to spend to make money and will always have deficiencies in teams compiled 'on the cheap' (relatively speaking), which have to be remedied with the signing of proven players.
I've left out some details and issues here, but I believe the fundamental point is that major change is required to remain a top side. The 'Elephant in the Room' for me is that United, City and Chelsea have funds and squads easily capable of bettering us in all competitions; while Spurs, who have shown themselves to be stronger in head-to-heads against us (it gashes me to say it), look set to retain their squad and improve. Liverpool would have finished second in the league based on Kenny Dalglish's results, and they have added to their squad this summer. We however appear to have made little progress and I'm guessing we'll finish sixth this season.
On the bright side, it was nice to see Carl Jenkinson paying homage to Lee Dixon last weekend - thanks again Arsene!
