6. WHAT ELSE COULD I HAVE DONE? – RECRUITMENT

At the end of the 2013 -14 season Chief Executive, Ivan Gazidis, boasted of “an escalation in our financial firepower” and that you had sufficient financial firepower to compete with the likes of Bayern Munich.

Ivan was pretty much right?
In the current Deloitte Football Money League of revenues generated by football operations, Bayern are fifth ranked at €474m, Arsenal, seventh at €435.5m.

Yet, as the Manchester Clubs have demonstrated, large transfer fees or salaries or expensive loan deals don’t necessarily guarantee success?
For instance, United’s recent acquisitions of Di Mari, Depay, Falcao, Mata, Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger. And the large transfer fees paid by City for Sterling, Mangala and Otomendi.

Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez have more than justified their fees?
But Mesut and Alexis were hardly products of clever scouting and recruitment. Your eye for a player remains Arsène. Having paid Barcelona a transfer fee of just c. £425,000, you transformed him from a 16 year old winger to be one the best full-backs in the Premier League, if not Europe, at only 21.

You must be very proud of his success?
Hector's compatriot Nacho Monreal was hardly the most heralded of signings either, indeed he was derided by pundits in his early days, yet he has developed into one of the best left backs in the Premier League. Similarly, Laurent Koscielny, has become one of the League's best sweeper style central defenders and is now a mainstay of the French defence and Santi Cazorla, hardly signed for superstar sums either, has been great too.

Perhaps your judgement of players has been underrated by your critics Arsène?

… When you do actually manage to sign the player – some that got away have returned to haunt you?
Not least Didier Drogba who you said will haunt you “to the end of your life”. You revealed that Arsenal watched him very carefully when he was at Le Mans, and was valued at just £100,000, but “we felt at the time he might not be completely ready… Looking back now [in 2009], of course it was a mistake.” You signed Theo Walcott from Southampton, but there were no vacancies for Gareth Bale “as we had Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy and didn’t want another left-back. I must confess it was a huge mistake as he can play in midfield.”

You recently said that a player’s value is a question of his talent, age, expected impact on team improvement, and resale value.
Bale certainly seemed to tick all those boxes for Tottenham.

But, all managers have their individual tales of transfer mistakes and woes Arsène. Not least Manchester United letting a young Paul Pogba go in 2012 for £1.5m and have just resigned him for a world record fee of £89m?
You tried to sign Pogba when he was preparing to leave Manchester United, but Juventus pipped you to it.

Like Bale a great impact on the team and a great resale value for Juventus too? A very sustainable piece of business for both?
But your “biggest regret was, I was so close to signing Christiano Ronaldo.” He had a tour of your training ground in 2003 and was impressed by your approach and what the Club could offer him, yet Manchester United sneaked in and pipped you to his signing too.

What would you say to supporters who complain that you are not decisive enough or aggressive enough in the transfer market?
Last summer, you were the only manager in Europe's top 5 leagues not to bring in a single outfield player at all.

Why not Arsène?
You said that Welbeck who was out for a long time. But you knew that before the summer transfer window closed and only announced his injury just afterwards. Welbeck himself was signed on transfer deadline day after all!

Surely, you could have done a lot about it and signed another forward – why didn't you Arsène?
At the start of the 2013 - 2014 season the back up for Olivier Giroud was a 17 year old Academy player Chuba Akpom and 20 year olds Ryo Miyaichi and Yaya Sanogo, all who had yet to start a Premier League match; plus the unfit Nicklas Bendtner, who even when fit never quite lived up to his extraordinary self-belief.

You bemoaned not having a 20 goal Premier League centre forward last season, but it was hardly the first season you were short of a top class centre forward?
Indeed, since you sold Robin van Persie to Manchester United four years ago, you haven’t managed to sign one. We know you tried to sign Luis Suarez from Liverpool in 2013 and Jamie Vardy before the Euros. Less clear from 2013, was your failure to sign Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli.

Did Napoli just pip you to the post? Or it has been suggested Real Madrid increase his price from £23m to nearer £30m and you withdrew?

You have a Masters in economics Arsène, but sometimes you seem unprepared to accept the laws of supply and demand?
Higuain scored 91 goals in his three subsequent seasons in Italy, not a bad return for the money – certainly compared to your strikers since? And Napoli have just sold him to Juventus for over £75m and he is 29 in December!

That’s quite a resale value and a very sustainable piece of business for Napoli too?

Did you attempt to sign any top class centre forward last summer?

This summer you tried to sign Jamie Vardy early on.

Given his age, he was unlikely to have had a great resale value had he left Leicester for Arsenal – Yet you were happy to take a hit on his resale value?
Few supporters would have minded, they just want success.

What have you done, since Jamie Vardy decided to stay at Leicester, to sign an alternative?
Manchester United paid a basic starting fee of £36m to sign 19 year old Anthony Martial last summer.

You thought his transfer fee was far too high at the time? Given the transfer fees we are seeing now, which you recently described as ‘scary’, it almost seems like a bargain?
In a squad that struggled badly offensively, he seemed to do rather well in his debut season and made the French World Cup Squad. You've not been afraid to sign unproven teenagers yourself Arsène - Theo Walcott was signed at 16 for £5m plus add-ons in 2006 - a huge investment in young talent at the time. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 17, was signed in 2011 for around a £12m basic initial fee. And then the inexperienced back up defender, Calumn Chambers, 19, in 2014 for a fee rising to £16m with add-ons. Yet, despite those significant investments, all three started just 26 games in all completions last season.

How would you compare Theo, Alex and Calum’s combined impact last season to Martial’s?
You also bemoaned the fact that Santi Cazorla was out for five months. But, you started the season with three central midfield players - the aged Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky and injury prone Jack Wilshere - with long term injuries and, between them, they started just 3 matches all season in all competitions! Similarly, you bemoaned the absence of Francis Coquelin for four months. Your back up was Mathieu Flamini, a free signing after he turned up to keep fit, and - like Mikel and Thomas - he was in the final year of his contract before being released near the end of his career.

A lot of Arsenal supporters thought you should have strengthened there last summer – why didn’t you?
Shall we move on to last season’s January transfer window. You said Mohamed Elneny and Alex Iwobi have done well but you don’t find players available in January to strengthen.