Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna is not fully satisfied with Arsenal’s progress to the group stages of the 2013/2014 Champions League – for him, trophies are far more important than the financial stability and prestige that comes with playing in the UEFA Champions League week in and week out.
Sagna has been an important part of the Arsenal defence in the last few seasons and has recently been forced to fill in across the back four due to injuries. Arsenal’s win in the second leg against Fenerbahce brought on further injury scares and that has only reinforced the need for Arsenal to spend to simply stay in the top four.
Sagna, like Arteta earlier in the summer, thinks staying in the top four isn’t enough, and that Arsenal must do more as the best-equipped club (financially at least) to close the gap between the rest of the league and the Big 3 in Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs.
Arsenal are still to sign a recognised forward after they baulked at Madrid’s asking price for Higuain and were unable to prise Suarez away from Liverpool. In fact Arsene Wenger has recently bemoaned the fact that top Premier League clubs are loathe to sell to their rivals, and one wonders what might have been if Arsenal had forced RVP to stay for the last season and not sold him to Manchester United.
Arsenal have recently been linked with Benzema, Ozil and Angel Di Maria of Real Madrid, Juan Mata of Chelsea, Cabaye of Newcastle and several other players.
However, with a few days left in the transfer window there has yet to be any significant signing. Arsenal may swoop in for a Fellaini or Sakho but fans will be asking why the club has once again resorted to panic buys instead of proactive action earlier in the summer.
At the end of the day, whoever Arsenal buy now will only strengthen their top four chances, not give them a push for the title. For that, they needed better planning.
And as Arsenal players and fans have said all summer, Champions League football is simply not enough.
Bacary Sagna: Arsenal need trophies more than Champions League football
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