George V
(Ed’s note – This article was submitted on the Saturday before transfer deadline day, but we are running it now, with things a little quiet due to the international break)
I've read the positive article by Richard Lancaster, and the negative one by Somak Goswami, and both have their points and counterpoints, some valid, some not. This transfer saga had two teams that didn't spend money throughout the majority of the transfer window, one being our beloved Arsenal, the other being Manchester United. Who gets more stick in the papers? That's right, it's Arsenal.
Did anyone ridicule Manchester United when Thiago Alcantara snubbed them for Bayern Munich? No. Anyone ridicule Man U. for Skippy's inability to get Fellaini and Baines? No. Moyes’ (I call him Skippy 'the ginger') dismal pre-season record while on tour should have been enough to get the papers saying that they should be spending money for new signings. However, while Arsenal had a perfect record in the Asia tour, everyone gets on their case, especially the papers, saying that Arsenal need to spend, spend, spend. I agree that we should spend on some experienced players, but not to appease certain fans.
I remember when the papers tried to rile the Chelsea fans into thinking that Shevchenko would be a great addition to the squad, and we all know what a flop he became. Manchester City were being touted as the next champions, because they bought a lot of quality players. Then they had that friendly in Helsinki against our beloved Arsenal who spent nothing, and City lost to us 3-1. Their match at Cardiff is a good indication of how buying marquee players doesn't guarantee instant success. I know, the match in Helsinki was a friendly, but pride was on the line, and I don't look at it as a friendly; it was an exhibition match. My definition of a friendly is when you have the A squad taking on the B squad at Shenley Training Center near London Colney, or any closed match at the training centre, like United did with Real Betis at their training centre.
Pierre is right - I didn't hear much singing by the Arsenal faithful at the Emirates, even in the Champions League qualifier with Fenerbahçe. All I saw on twitter prior to the Champions League tie was how we had a bad draw, and were going to have a tough time and get eliminated against Fenerbahçe in Istanbul, and that didn't happen. Yes, it was noisy in Istanbul, but it got dead quiet after Arsenal pulled ahead 2-0 in Turkey. When the game returned to the Emirates, it was hardly noisy throughout the game until the second goal by Ramsey. Is it becoming the case that our fellow fans will only sing when the team is winning? Do we need to be ridiculed by the fans of the opposing team and told the Emirates Stadium is really the Ashburton Grove Library because of how quiet the fans are during the game? I've seen more lively Arsenal fans in the pubs than in the stadium, and this is an observation.
When the Champions League draw took place, both the haters, and the Nega-fans (Negative Arsenal fans) wrote about how we were going to get creamed in that group, but when I look at what the Germans, and the Italians wrote, they were tweeting the same thing about THEIR OWN team. Dortmund fans wanted their team to be grouped with Porto or Benfica, they were dreading being grouped with Arsenal. They're jealous that we beat Bayern at the Allianz, and they didn't. Napoli fans, who remember Napoli's poor showing at the Emirates Cup, wanted to be grouped with Benfica. Dortmund and Napoli feel that they got the short end, and a tough draw as well. Our fellow fans are heaping scorn on Arsène Wenger, while Klopp and Benitez are praising him.
I agree on needing to spend, spend, spend. We have had some dark times trying to maintain consistency in the standings year after year while successfully paying off the club's stadium and Highbury redevelopment debts, but how many clubs do you know who have spent a net total of £8m over eight years and still made it to the Champions League group stage every time? Chelsea have spent almost a billion pounds in new players, and that's just the transfer fees. I haven't even added the severance packages for all the managers they fired. Chelsea needed to spend a billion to maintain being in the Champions League.
When you look at what clubs pay in transfers to try to get into the Champions League year after year vs what Arsenal does, which is what Dortmund is emulating, you have to admire that we're not nose-diving into debt trying to get on the big stage in European football. I've observed Arsenal during the years they had to do a play-off to get into the Champions League, and I’ve noticed that in those years AFC enter the transfer market late. Players do want to be in the Champions League. It's what they want, and they won't play for a club with Champions League aspirations - they want to be in a club that's IN the Champions League now, and I have to agree with Richard - we are being brainwashed by the tabloids, and by the agents who talk to the Tabloids. Let me run down the list, on players who were supposedly involved with Arsenal.
Gonzalo Higuain - F. Perez said they never got a bid from Arsenal, and Gonzo's agent, who happens to be his father, was telling the Argentine press repeatedly that Arsenal were interested in him and that personal terms were agreed; there was even a report that a fee was agreed between Arsenal and Real Madrid for £23m but Real changed their mind and raised it to £32m, and he was later sold to Napoli.
Bernard - no one had heard of Bernard or his "link" to Arsenal until the finals of the Copa Libertadores. Arsenal did send a scout to investigate this player because of the news stories saying he was linked to Arsenal, but Arsenal never did put a bid for him. Arsène said in Japan that he had never even heard of Bernard.
Luiz Gustavo - this one is a head-scratcher. He was for sale as surplus to Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg put in a £15m bid for him, Arsenal put in a £18m bid, and offered him a starter position and a higher salary, Luiz goes to Switzerland for his Brazil friendly, speaks with Felipe Scolari (former Chelsea Manager), and chooses to go to Wolfsburg, saying that he wants to stay in Germany. If that is the case, then we can't force people to uproot and come to London for more money. If they're dead set on staying in Germany, let them stay where they want to stay.
Luis Suarez - Arsène Wenger did mention he admired his skills, but I believe the blame should be squarely on Pere Guardiola, Luis Suarez's agent, who told Arsenal about the clause but wasn't sure if it was a release clause, Arsenal did make a bid on the quiet for £40,000,001, Liverpool got scared and went public trying to ridicule Arsenal, first tweeting about what the Arsenal Board was smoking, then raising the price to £50m - saying he was equal to his Uruguay teammate Edson Cavani's transfer price. Then they wanted to raise it to £85m saying he was equal to Gareth Bale. Luis goes on the newspapers saying that Liverpool promised to sell him to a Champions League club if Liverpool didn't qualify, his friend Cavani backs him up, now he's pretty much pretending to be happy families with Liverpool to the English press, while he said no comment to the French press when asked if he was staying at Liverpool after Sept. 2nd.
Wayne Rooney - Arsène Wenger didn't make a bid for Rooney. He stated they have money to pay wages equal to what Rooney was getting at United, he expressed interest in Rooney, but wasn't going to make an enquiry unless United were willing to sell Rooney to them.
The Real Madrid Fire Sale - Arsenal have been linked with those four or five players. For all I know, if Arsenal made any bids with the big clubs, it might have happened in Monaco before and after the Group Stage Draw. There were lots of execs and managers there. If we come away with two Madrid players, that will be great.
Juan Mata - I was at the Fenerbahçe game at the Emirates and I saw the tweet about Juan Mata Senior, who is also Mata's agent, being at the stadium. I did look in the direction of the Directors’ boxes. I saw Lehmann, and I did see someone who did look like Juan Mata, maybe father and son do look alike, so there is some truth to it, but whether Mata is moving, well, Mata didn't play during the Chelsea-United match, or the UEFA Super Cup. I thought it was very peculiar that Jose Mourinho didn't want to play the Chelsea player of the season for those two big games.
Now let's be clear about Arsène Wenger. He is not going to tell us who he is bidding for, and the reason is very clear. Other clubs are watching him and hanging to his every word. When he was an unknown coach from Japan, he bought the players who helped make Arsenal great. No-one paid attention to him or the Arsenal F.C. and our club won trophies as a result. Now that he's a famous gaffer, managers like PSG's Laurent Blanc use a strange transfer strategy, which is to outbid Arsène on any player he might be interested in.
I'm not an apologist or saying trust in him completely, but give him some trust. He's won the club 11 of the 39 major trophies Arsenal has won in our 125-year history. George Graham did win you some trophies, but his league form was erratic at times; some years we were tops, other years we were mid-table. The other coaches before him, including Bertie Mee, weren't consistent in the league table or in keeping Arsenal at the top with the exception of Herbert Chapman. I feel that if pneumonia hadn’t taken his life in 1934, he would've led that team to four more cups and trophies, and kept the club as consistent as Wenger. ,Yes we are frustrated by the lack of information about who are we after and for how much, and we're putting our trust in supermarket tabloids and their back pages on information that was given to them by agents of players who want to move and mention Arsenal as a destination to drive interest from other clubs, and bring disrepute to Arsène Wenger.
I remember Somak telling us to name four or five players from the academy that made it into the senior squad, There's Kieran Gibbs, Emmanuel Frimpong, Wojciech Szczesny, and Jack Wilshere. Other academics ready to break to the first team that I look forward to are Chuba Akpom, Benik Afobe, Serge Gnabry, and Thomas Eisfield. The other common myth mentioned by Somak is that Arsenal have been consistently in fourth place. That's a load of b***ocks. Since the last time they won the Premiership, Arsenal finished 2nd, 4th, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, and 4th. Looking at the past records, Arsenal had been trading third and fourth place. First, they were trading third and fourth with Liverpool during the first three years; then it was just third during seasons that end in even years, and fourth in odd years. So consider the fourth-place myth as being busted, and please keep your judgement until after the window closes.
In closing, I'd like to say that we should not heap scorn on Arsène on those two signings so far. If you followed the U-21 World Cup in June, Yaya Sanogo was the leading scorer for the cup-winning French team, and Flamini is the kind of player who will play his contract until it expires and never asks to be transferred to another team, because he likes to be called a player and not a commodity to be bought and sold. He wasn't sold by Marseille to Arsenal in the beginning; he left Marseille for Arsenal, and – yes - he left us for Milan, found out things weren't rosy in Italy and came back and wants to prove that he wants to play for the shirt. I say let's give him a chance. As for our team celebrating at the end of last season, it was because we ended the season finishing higher than Tottenham, and making AVB eat crow for saying to the press in February that Arsenal were on a downward spiral. As for the NLD, I’m afraid I can't watch it. I have something more important - it's visitation day, and my kid comes first. I’m sure all Arsenal fans who are fathers can understand my reason.
