Arsenal’s Transfer Policy: Smart or Limiting?
So far this summer, Arsenal’s transfers read like this:
In: Carlos Vela (returning from loan, work permit approved), Aaron Ramsey (£5m, Cardiff)
Out: Mathieu Flamini (free, AC Milan), Jens Lehmann (free, Stuttgart)
Add to this the impending arrivals of both Samir Nasri and Amaury Bischoff and you have a nice nucleus of young stars arriving at Arsenal to boost their title chances for the next season.
They are a keeper and a backup defender away from being a complete squad after these two additions, although some might say that with Gilberto Silva, Abou Diaby and Denilson left to partner Fabregas in midfield an experienced European campaigner would be useful too (any suggestions?).
But there is a lot of needless panicking in the media about Arsenal’s state of affairs. It started with Adebayor and Hleb being linked with moves away from Arsenal – both players wanted improved contract terms or a move aborad – and it culminated into a frenzy with shit tabloid NOTW publishing quotes from Arsene Wenger that supposedly claimed that Arsenal need to sell in order to pay off their debts.
Now I’m no Arsenal fan but even I can see from the numbers that the club is profitable thanks to their consistent appearances in the Champions League, the new TV deal and the money-making machine that they call the Emirates Stadium. If Arsenal have to pay 24m per year, they could do that and still be left with enough profits to buy new players. The whole thing is being blown out of proportion for fun’s sake – Arsenal have to be prudent in the transfer window and look for less expensive talent and focus on youngsters as a result but that has more to do with Wenger’s vision of creating a winning team than it has to do with financial hardship.
So when Wenger says: “We manage at Arsenal to maintain all our football ambitions — national and European —while having to free up – for 17 more years – an annual surplus of £24m to pay for our stadium.”
He’s bragging about his work at Arsenal, not telling us that Arsenal will be a selling club.
And when he says: “The strategy of the club is to sell every year and to buy less expensive players.”
You need to take those two points separately – selling each year helps Wenger get the bad players off the wage bill and buying less expensive players helps them get more value for their money.
Wenger: “The club’s strategy is to favour the policy of youngsters ahead of stars and to count on the collective quality of our game.”
That’s what produces Wengerball and again, not a fan but hard to argue with the man based on the results they’ve had in the past.
Unfortunately NOTW put those quotes in a sequence (answers to separate questions in separate contexts) that made it sound like Arsenal are a selling club. They’ve done it before, and they’re not the only ones to pull such tricks.
So Arsenal have the dosh to spend – as evidenced by their spending 5m on Ramsey, and 11m on Nasri – both intelligent buys and free of the ridiculous over-valuation that surrounds the likes of Arshavin and Barry. They refuse to be hijacked, and although Wenger does get a few things wrong he gets most of them right, like his stance on Hleb and Adebayor.
Adebayor is asking for improved contract terms and my understanding is that while Arsenal have offered an improvement, it doesn’t match what Barcelona or Milan are prepared to offer him and he’s holding out for that much at least or he’s threatening to leave. Thing is, Arsenal have put a 30m price tag on a 10m forward and it’s already scared Milan off and it will eventually knock back Barcelona as well (they would have to be crazy to pay that much for Adebayor). I’ve said before that a straight Ade-Eto’o swap might be best for Arsenal as long as they could manage his wages. If a swap doesn’t happen, I doubt that Adebayor will move as a club would have to be crazy to pay that much for him.
Hleb is a different case – he himself has kept quiet although his agent has once or twice spoken about his client’s desire to move. It seems that while Hleb is also after a better deal he’s less adamant about it than Adebayor and has been far more professional about the whole situation. Barcelona were rumoured to be after Hleb as well
Barcelona will find cheaper but equally talented alternatives to Adebayor and Hleb outside England. If Arsenal can keep these two onboard for next season and add Nasri and Bischoff as expected, they will be stronger than last season (barring central midfield, but you never know how Silva / Diaby / Denilson / Bischoff could step up and do a Flamini) and again genuine contenders for trophies on all four fronts.
We need a defender like Kompany, Raúl Albiol or Zapata. To replace Flamini we should get Yaya or Veloso.
It’s a shame we won’t get Gomez for goal but we could get Artur Boruc.
Well Ahmed, good to see you are being unbiased for once.
In Arsene we trust! There is no way that he will let Adebayor go. Just tell me, anyone, which player Arsene let go and that player played better then in Arsenal!? Let everyone know if Ade goes he is another Anelka, if Hleb goes he will be same case like Pires or Edu once they left.
Vincent Kompany and Akinfeev is what we need for title! We can afford them.
Boruc is priced at 10m+ by Celtic. I doubt anyone will go for him…
I don’t think Arsene will go for Yaya Toure. He originally turned Yaya down when he tried out at Arsenal.
He said at the beginning of the summer that he was looking to add one experienced player to the squad, which still hasn’t materialized. I would expect it might be someone who could be available on the cheap, like a Frings.
um. weve signed nasri for 11m? just HOW recent was this ahmed?
Harry – just reporting the expected transfer mate. It’s going to go through this month and that’ll be the amount, more or less.
Raed – don’t worry, won’t expect that from you in your next article
tyduffy – Frings would be an awesome addition to Arsenal or Tottenham (both teams lack a strong, experienced personality in the middle). Don’t think either manager wants to go for him though – both would be looking to develop their youngsters instead. A shame.
Don’t worry. I try.
Arsenal need to start paying their players or risk becoming a feeder club for more ambitious clubs. In terms of revenue arsenal is likely to be in the top 5 across europe this is because of the players yet the dont want to pay them. This strategy will blow up in there face if they are not careful. I am a Bayern fan but i love watching arsenal play, they play the most attractive (maybe not the most sensible) football in the world and i dont want to c that changed.
I can appreciate Arsene’s comments on the power players wield these days. Maybe I’m just being American, but I tend to think that both sides should live up to the terms of a contract.
I concur with those who suggest that Gilberto or Diaby can fill the void left by Flamini. Not that I wouldn’t mind if we picked up Veloso or Frings, but I haven’t seen any real indication that this is going to happen. This could also be because Arsene and his staff do a good job of tryign to keep the transfer process civil and quiet, unlike Mr. Calderon and Galliani, who can’t shut their big yappers.
A swap deal between Adebayor an Eto would by far be the best thing to happen for Arsenal.
Ade is way overrated and on the other hand, Eto proves year in and year out that he is one of the top goalscorers worldwide.
I can´t see why Arsenal is not much more eager on making this deal happen.
I agree, with Eto’o we would have a great chance of the Title.
i don’t think it will happen because i can’t see any attempt of that.
ARSENAL HAVE THE BETTER CHANCE TO WIN THR LEAGUE LAST SEASON BUT DUE TO THEIR PERFORMANCE TOWARD THE END OF THE SEASON MAKE EVERYHTHING WORST. NOW IF THE PLAYERS AND MANAGER CAN WORK AND IN HAND AND ARSENE WENGER SHOULD BUY MONRE PLAYERS TO THE DEFENCE AND GET GALLAS OUT EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE.
i will always give cudos the manager concerning the way he manager the club activities but there are many thing that i think arsene wenger should do,,, like buying two more prolific strickers to support the attacking side of the club, i can see more of Adebayor and i can also bet it that he has agility to do more than what he has been doing last season . please Arsene Wenger buy two more attacker to build up our club i really need to see arsenal carry the trophy next season.
Arsenal transfer policy is sooooooooo limited , football today equal Money and since this word is new and weird on Arsenal we will always stay in the same place that’s if we dont go down!!! Arsenal must go to buy a dgood defender a midfielder and a new striker instead of the greedy and arrogant player adebayor. Raul Albiol , Veloso and Huntelaar would be a great deals for Arsenal with Nasri signature of course
this is the ahmed i fell in love with when i first visited soccerlens, like raed said this is kind of articles we know mr. bilal can and is able to publish. very objective, unbiased, and even if it is critical it is constructive. this is what i ve been talking about, with this kind of article from you and your crew we can all say confidently that soccerlens is indeed “the footy news we can trust”. thumps up and keep it coming
Have you heard about gilberto silva’s transfer to panathinaikos? Is this information true or not? why does he leave arsenal?
#19 – yea, well, whatever
#20 – doubt it.
Listen guys…
Arsenal is what it is today because of Arsene’s Vision. The player we all praise today-Fabregas- is here because Arsene stuck with what he believed.
Now, is that to say Arsenal should not buy new players? Definitely not, but you guys have to also understand that not all players with “name” will play good under Arsenal football.
That applies to all other teams as well, why do you think superstars in Chelsea always underperform? Because chelsea football did not suit various so-called world class players.
Players are what they are under the team and enviornment they play in, these are important factors.
What Arsenal needs to do the most this off season is to make sure players like Van Persie and Rocisky get healthy and stay healthy. They can do so much on the creative role, on the wings and most importantly be goal scorers when necessary.
Also, players like Walcott and Song will definitely step up like Flamini did, and think about a squad with players i just mentioned in top-form.
Obviously the main problem at the moment come from Ade and Hleb. Thing is these players think they worked hard – they did- but do they deserve what they are asking for? You be the judge. Its a shame football is now down to money however you look at it. If compared to a decade or two ago, these players would be making at the high end. Now it is not enough because in their mind players “not up to par” are making more. Its nothing but greed and ego status.
Ade is good, but not that good. Hleb has only recently improved to this stage, so are they replaceable? Definitely if you ask me.
Players Arsenal need to sign:
feel free to speculate
i think ..arsenal need ..players like aguero and hettenga..piccolo….serjeo ramos …wrait philips…martins….benzima….and fabregas and walcott.fabianski.villa.senderos rest …..
if you think our team need a right full bac right now i will rather say No to this and someone like wright philips in our team will be a big flop martin will be a good one if we can use him with almighty Adebayor in the attak and david villa too. our mid field is ok but i think we will need someone like yaya toure in the deffensive role.
I LOOK AT AT ADEBAYOR I SEE MYSELF IN HIS EYES I LOVE YOU GUY KEEP IT UP. YOU ARE MY GUY NO MATTER WHAT, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MY GUY AM COMMITTED TO BE YOUR BEST FAN AND ARSENAL AND THAT I WIL REMAIN COZ I SEE YOIU GO BRIGHT IN FUTURE AND THIS IS THE FUTURE.
Ed. warning: Lower the caps, if you don’t mind.
ITS A BIG BLOW ON ME TO SEE HLEB GOING TO BARCELONA I KNOW IS ONE OF OUR BEST PLAYER FOR NOW BUT I WILL ALWAYS BELIEVE IN WENGER COZ HE ALWAYS HAVE A REPLACEMENT FOR PLAYER LIKE THAT.BUT FOR FLAMINI NO, I WILL NEVER REGRET THAT DECISION COZ FOR GOOD THREE SEASON HE IS NOTHING AND NOW IS EVEN 27YRS OLD IIF AM RIGHT SO I THINK HE SHOULD GO LETS SEE WHAT HAPPEN TO HIM THERE IN NEXT SEASON
I LUV ARSENAL.MORE GREASE TO YOUR ELBOW.WISHING U THE BEST AS THE LEAGUE STARTS SOON .EYE THE CHAMPS LEAGUE,GUNNERS.
PLS SHOOT MORE……….
BIG UPS ARSENAL
I believe arsenal is good,they pray good foog football,but the question is whats the problem in terms of buying first class players?I think wenger is not serious coz he never understood that players also get tired.Inotherwords he could think of buying players who can also help in case the defenders get sick and the midfielders.
Wenger could buy players who has experience not the youngones who can not bring cups.Let wenger think of bringing cups not playing enterting football only.
T
he young players still take arsenal down.
Players to help in case of injury needed too.