Neil A. Fry
Ahead of the 2–10 aggregate humiliation against Bayern Munich, Monsieur Wenger made the extraordinary claim that he “built the Club”. (Ed’s note – possibly “built up the club”, depending on how you translate German.) Arsenal thrived under George Graham before his arrival and long before, under Herbert Chapman, and, with a fit-for-purpose owner/Board, would again. Nevertheless, as Nacho Monreal confirmed during the international break, “…at the club for 20 years. He’s the boss. He holds the most weight in the dressing room, at board level, and he controls pretty much everything”. Far from the 24-hour news timeframe he disdains, Arsenal Audit examines Monsieur Wenger’s skills as Arsenal controller, architect and project manager through his three distinct major projects over the last ten years.
Project 1: Project Youth – And saving Privates Diaby, Denilson & Song
“I told the shareholders we have to trust this team. Everything is based on my own conviction … If in two years I don't have any success, it will be my fault. It is a bet I made.” Arsène Wenger, October 2009
In that article published 19 October 2009, Monsieur Wenger was in an ebullient mood after Arsenal’s four wins from their first four home Premier League matches of the season - against Portsmouth, Wigan, Blackburn and Birmingham - had racked up 17 goals. He had responded to, then relatively rare, pre-season criticism from supporters by adding experience and steel to a midfield that personified his Project Youth, one he believed would keep Arsenal competing at the highest level during the height of the new stadium-build debt repayments. He seemed unperturbed over the modesty of the opposition or by the fact that successive away matches in Manchester, had been lost 3–6 on aggregate earlier in the nascent season. Indeed, Monsieur Wenger confidently revealed that he chose not to sign the potentially available Xabi Alonso, as his arrival would have halted the development of players such as Denilson, Alex Song and Abou Diaby, who had excelled in the big wins. Famously, he said "I have been criticised for not hiring Xabi Alonso ... I would have killed Song, Diaby and Denilson”.
Having had a season on loan, Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong joined Arsenal in the summer of 2006 for a £1 million fee to then French Ligue 1 club Bastia. Then 21, the 2008–09 season became his breakthrough season, and in 48 appearances Alex Song emerged as a genuine midfield enforcer and foil for another Monsieur Wenger starlet, Cesc Fàbregas. Monsieur Wenger proudly boasted, "I brought him here aged 17 and worked very hard with him, we worked hard because I felt he had the talent to become a good player. I know that the opinions are changing about him now." His good form continued in the next season, having been awarded a five-year contract in November. The following season, he scored five goals and had three assists as a precursor to his final season, when his defensive duties seemed to become increasingly secondary to him. Arsenal Audit and many supporters regarded his sale to Barcelona, of all places, for £15m in 2012 as a good piece of business. Song won no trophies at Arsenal. He never became a Barcelona regular, but did have a league title to show for 20 starts in his first season (his only career honour). He headed off to West Ham for the 2014–15 season on loan. After initial good reviews, his season petered out. He is now 29 and currently playing for FC Rubin Kazan, in the Republic of Tatarstan, in the Russian Premier League. Song was awarded 49 caps by Cameroon.
Vassiriki Abou Diaby was deemed surplus to requirements by French club Auxerre and Arsenal made a rare January transfer-market signing and acquired him for £2 million on a long-term contract in 2006. After just 119 appearances due to repeated injury problems, to the shock of many - particularly given the financial constraints of stadium debt repayments - Abou Diaby was awarded a new long-term contract at the end of 2009. Arsène Wenger enthused, "Abou is a great player with huge presence on the football pitch and he has the potential to be an extremely influential part of Arsenal for many years to come." He was present just 42 times in his final five seasons and left after 40 injuries in nine years. After the club decided not to offer him a third contract, Diaby signed for French Ligue 1 side Marseille in the summer of 2015. He won no trophies at Arsenal. Following continuing injury problems in his first season, he finally started in a league match on 3 April 2016, his first league start in over three years, and he managed just four appearances all season in all competitions. Now 30, having made two appearances in August, he had to undergo an operation on his right ankle in October and was ruled out for a period of four months. Diaby was awarded 16 caps by France.
Having made four starts for his home-town Brazilian club São Paulo, Denílson Pereira Neves joined Arsenal for a fee of £3.4 million in the summer of 2006. Denílson was awarded a new five-year contract in September 2009 and, bar two months injured, was a regular starter that season. “Everyone at Arsenal Football Club” was said to be “looking forward to Denilson’s continued contribution”. Arsenal Audit was far from alone in not being so readily convinced. Indeed, the following season saw him somewhat side-lined by the increasing emergence of a teenage Jack Wilshere, and, with further injury concerns, he started just six Premier League matches. Denílson returned to former club São Paulo on loan for the following season and his number 15 Arsenal squad-number was given to new signing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. To rather less fanfare than that with which Denilson’s five-year contract was announced, it was terminated at the end of the following season by mutual consent. He won no trophies at Arsenal. Now 29, he is on loan from Al-Wahda F.C. in the United Arab Erimates and playing for Cruzeiro in his homeland. Since leaving Arsenal he won the Copa Sudamericana with São Paulo and The UAE League Cup. He has never been capped at senior level.
Within two days of helping to humiliate Arsenal again, Xabi Alonso, now 35, announced his retirement at the end of the season. Since leaving Liverpool in the summer of 2009 (having won the FA Cup and Champions League with them), the Spanish midfielder/defensive midfielder has won the Spanish League, Spanish cup twice, the German League twice, the German cup, the Champions League again, the European Championship twice and the World Cup (having been capped 114 times by Spain in their greatest era).
Project 2: The British core – The loyal and successful future
“Chamberlain is 19, Wilshere 21, Walcott 23, Jenkinson 20, Gibbs 23 – they are all good players, and I believe it is a bit easier to keep them. You need a core. We had that before, and now we are creating it again … a core that represents the values of the club.” Arsène Wenger, January 2013
Jack Wilshere and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (and Aaron Ramsey) emerging at the expense of Denilson also captured the emergence of the successor project to the failed Project Youth, Monsieur Wenger’s British core, whose ranks were completed by Kieran Gibbs and Theo Walcott (and, later, squad right-back Carl Jenkinson). With Monsieur Wenger chastened by the departures of star players and captains, they were to be the loyal future and the success of the Club.
Now 28, Theo Walcott joined Arsenal from Southampton, having just broken into their first team, as a 16-year-old in January 2006 for £5m rising to £12m with add-ons (settled by compromise agreement as £9.1m). Having seen right-back Emanuel Eboué usurp him on the right-wing at the start of his first full season, Walcott’s breakthrough moment came after he became the youngest player in history to score a hat-trick for England, in the World Cup qualifier against Croatia on 10 September 2006. In 11 seasons, Walcott has gone on to make 239 Arsenal starts in all competitions, 135 sub appearances and scored 102 goals. Having struggled to fulfil his promise, this season is only the second one in which he has scored 15 goals or more. He has started 25 Premier League matches in a season just once (32 in 2011–2012). His best season was 2012–13 in which he scored 21 goals, 14 in the PL from 24 starts and 8 as sub. He signed a new contract in January 2013, but this season has been the first season since then in which he has registered double figures for goals. Pre-season, Monsieur Wenger had publicly outed his lack of defensive diligence for the current game. After a diligent first four months of the season, it has gone somewhat awry on recent occasions. He has made 19 PL starts and two sub appearances and scored eight goals (17 in all competitions) and had two assists in his 1,612 minutes. Defensively, he has made 27 tackles, 12 clearances, 11 interceptions and one block so far this season. Capped 47 times by England (eight goals), he failed to make the current England squad.
Now 23, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joined from the same club in August 2011 for £12m potentially rising to £15m. He had scored nine goals in his Southampton breakthrough season, aged 17, helping the then-ailing club’s promotion from League One. He has also struggled to fulfil his promise. Prior to this season, his best return of goals was four in his first season – albeit his most-ever starts were just 17 in the PL and 23 in all competitions, in the 2014-15 season. In six seasons, he has had just 105 starts (plus 81 sub appearances) and scored just 20 goals. Nevertheless, this season has been his best and having been moved to central midfield due to absences, he has probably been the best player during the recent troubles. He has made 12 PL starts, 11 sub appearances and been subbed off - as Monsieur Wenger’s default tactical substitution mechanism – nine times. Whilst his goals tally of two is vastly inferior to Walcott’s, his other key stats at both ends of the pitch compare favourably despite his comparative lack of minutes (1,232) - four assists, 27 tackles, 15 clearances and 12 interceptions. The most telling statistic, given Monsieur Wenger’s default ‘tactical’ substitution of swapping the Alexes, is that the West Brom match was only the third PL match he has completed. Oxlade-Chamberlain stated earlier this season that he would assess how his season pans out before deciding on his future. He started the recent World Cup qualifier against Lithuania in central midfield to win his 25th England cap (five goals).
Now 26, Aaron Ramsey joined from Cardiff City in June 2008 for £5m, aged 17, having finished his breakthrough season at the club by appearing in the FA Cup Final. Apart from the 2013-2014 season, in which he scored ten PL goals and 16 in all competitions, he has also struggled to fulfil his promise in a career plagued by soft-tissue injuries. In nine seasons, Ramsey has gone on to make 201 starts, 84 sub appearances and scored 45 goals. He has never started 30 PL matches in a season. This season he has mustered just seven PL starts with one assist and no goals from his 20 shots, 14 of which were off target. An automatic Wales starter, he has 46 caps (11 goals) and made the UEFA European Championship 2016 Team of the Tournament.
Now 27, Kieran Gibbs joined the Arsenal youth team from a defunct Wimbledon’s academy in 2004 and signed a professional contract in 2007, having been converted from winger/central midfield to left-back. He has also struggled to fulfil his promise. In ten seasons Gibbs has gone on to make 178 starts and 47 sub appearances. He has never started 25 Premier League matches in a season. This season, despite Nacho Monreal’s struggles, he has just three PL starts and come on as a sub three times. Capped ten times by England, he failed to make the current England squad.
Now 25, Jack Wilshere joined Arsenal aged nine and became the Gunners’ youngest-ever league player when he made his debut in 2008, aged 16 years and 256 days. He has also struggled to fulfil his promise in a career plagued by injuries. In eight seasons, Wilshere has gone on to make 121 starts, 38 sub appearances and score 12 goals. He has started 25 Premier League matches in a season just once (31 in 2010 – 2011). This season he made two PL substitute appearances in August before deciding to join AFC Bournemouth on a season-long loan. The south coast air and Bournemouth’s medical team have enabled Wilshere, for once, to enjoy an injury-free season, so far. In the January Arsenal Audit, it was noted that he was playing regularly, albeit his stats were very far from spectacular (not least no goals and just one assist). With just two points from 21 in 2017 Bournemouth were heading towards the relegation zone fast and faced a difficult match at Old Trafford. The Club’s much-heralded star loan signing was dropped and an unused sub in the very creditable draw. Two crucial home wins against teams in the lower reaches of the table followed, with Wilshere again starting on the bench. Capped 34 times by England (two goals), he failed to make the current England squad.
Whilst new deals for Laurent Koscielny, Olivier Giroud and Francis Coquelin were announced during the January transfer window, none was forthcoming for Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin or Kieran Gibbs, despite all three being into the final 16 months of their deals. A struggling Carl Jenkinson (25, one England cap) was allowed to leave, but appears to have declined his previous loan club, West Ham’s, pay offer (joining Mathieu Debuchy as a well remunerated non-playing right-back).
Project 3: The Team of Men – Mature, focussed, together and ready to compete
“I would say it’s the most mature squad I’ve had for a long time, because they are men … It’s the first time for a long time that I’ve had a team of what you can call men, ready to compete.” Arsène Wenger, September 2016
Having signed Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez to great fanfare previously, and then Petr Cech, Monsieur Wenger went no further last season - to widespread dismay - and stressed the importance of continuity. Consequently, the title-challenge faded long before Tottenham Hotspur’s, and Leicester City, on a fraction of Arsenal’s salary and transfer budgets, left Arsenal trailing far behind. In the final year of his (existing) contract, £90m was spent on three major signings, Granit Xhaka, Lucas Perez and, following Per Mertesacker’s pre-season injury, Skhodran Mustafi. A change in tactics came with it, with the sacrosanct 4-2-3-1 supplemented by a high press led by Alexis Sanchez, now a false nine, and a fast attacking game with Olivier Giroud a (very effective) substitute plan B. During the September international break, buoyed by successive comfortable wins against Chelsea and FC Basel, but noting that the Premier League may be more difficult than ever this year, Monsieur Wenger continued on the merits of his team of men, “I like them because I think they are focused… They have a good togetherness, they have a great concentration level.” At the time of the present international break, the Team of Men has looked anything but focused, concentrating hard or, following Alexis’s, their best player’s, banishment after a training ground incident, together. The high press and fast attacking game has been usurped by last season’s dull, lateral, possession-based no-end-product game, and defensively Arsenal have been shambolic. Arsenal have lost four of the last five PL matches for the first time in Monsieur Wenger’s career and are 19 points behind the leaders and in sixth place, having exited the Champions League in Round 16 on aggregate 2–10.
Nevertheless, Monsieur Wenger appears to have agreed a new contract and, it is said, will refresh the squad yet again and tweak the tactics, which he believes will take Arsenal to a 13-year awaited Premier League win and the next level ….
Prospects
... Nul.
Sources
