Kevin Whitcher
Last week, Manchester City paid £37 million for Leroy Sane, a winger who has made less than 50 first team appearances for Schalke 04. He did not appear in the 3-2 defeat by Arsenal yesterday in Gothenburg. It was obvious that although the Arsenal end of the stadium for that game was fairly packed, a lot of the remaining stands were half empty. One suspects a combination of high ticket prices, or a simple lack of interest from the Swedish locals in a glorified pre-season friendly between the two sides.
Before getting to the main point, one thing that was interesting about the game was to look at the starting eleven with a view to who will take the field next Sunday against Liverpool. One sensed, even before the game, that the manager was not certain whether to play Chambers or Holding against Jurgen Klopp’s side. Now, he may play both. I imagine that Laurent Koscielny reported for duty this morning at London Colney, and a bit of me, now that Gabriel has been crocked, would not be entirely surprised if he started ahead of schedule. Also, Arsene being Arsene, and not a genius when it comes to the defensive side of the game, might just decide to play Mathieu Debuchy at centre back for a couple of games. A bit left-field, maybe, but don’t rule it out entirely. And he is no Bacary Sagna, so let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
The obvious solution is of course to buy, and buy experienced quality. While most of the focus on the club until yesterday was on Arsenal’s need for a striker with more consistent form, Gabriel’s injury has made the requirement to seal some deals in the transfer window all the more imperative.
And you know what, it really isn’t as complicated as the manager makes out. What it comes down to is simply this. You pay the money. The world and his wife know that: 1 – Premier League clubs are awash with cash and: 2 – Arsenal have a bigger cash balance in the bank than any other team in world football.
So if Manchester City are going to pay £35 million on a youngster with potential and Manchester United are going to splash north of £100 million for Paul Pogba, Arsenal are going to have to forget the concept of “value” in deals they are trying to conclude.
Football is really very simple. Clubs aim not to go broke, but spend pretty much all of their available resources in an attempt to give them an edge. Except Arsenal. Where will the huge influx of money coming into the game go? Simple. Into the pockets of players, managers and their agents. You think the fee for Paul Pogba will sit in Juve’s bank account for long? Of course not. They will use the money to buy players and pay their wages. Every other club does this. No-one keeps cash in the bank. Profit is no good to anyone unless a club pays dividends to shareholders. Stan Kroenke can try and shoehorn a few million out of Arsenal each year, but compared to their bank balance, it’s a drop in the ocean. Dividends are not being paid to Arsenal shareholders.
So here is a message to the club and Arsene Wenger. Even if you get it wrong in the transfer market, at least by spending on players then you have tried. Because cash sitting in the bank doing nothing but gaining minimal interest has no currency in football. It’s meaningless. And if there is some other agenda such as the money acting as security for Stan Kroenke’s activities with the LA Rams, then come out and say so. At least then, supporters will know what they are paying for when they lay out their cash on Arsenal.
Before I started writing this piece, I did believe Arsenal might sign another player in this transfer window. Now, I’m not so sure.
A new issue of The Gooner comes out next weekend for the home match against Liverpool. More details during the week.
